


The Way You Move Me

by unending_happiness



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec and Max, Alec is the best big brother in the world, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Fluff, Magnus and Madzie, Magnus is a badass, Magnus is a sweet badass, Malec, Music, POV Alec Lightwood, POV Magnus Bane, Skating, Slow Burn, WIP, roller skating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:17:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9613442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unending_happiness/pseuds/unending_happiness
Summary: Alec Lightwood gets dragged by his siblings to go roller skating. He is not a good skater, but it doesn't matter, because he can't keep his eyes off a gorgeous stranger who also happens to be an incredible skater.Magnus Bane lives for skating. He rules the rink when he's there. Despite being confident, sexy, smart, and caring, he hasn't been lucky in love. He is intrigued by a tall, dark, and handsome stranger who visits the rink one night, and is determined to not let him go.





	1. Tell Me

**Author's Note:**

> So, I have been roller skating since I was 2 years old. I love being on wheels and the atmosphere of the rink on a weekend night. So much fun! I was thinking of an AU Malec story to write and it struck me that Magnus would be an absolutely incredible skater. This fic has been on my mind all the time...it just pours out of my hands onto the keyboard. I'm really passionate about it, so I hope you all enjoy it too.
> 
> Music will be heavily tied in here, and I'll share my playlist for each Chapter. Chapter titles will all be pulled from songs, and I think you will enjoy what I'm doing with that. In no way do I own these songs or the rights to them. :)
> 
> This title comes from Groove Theory's Tell Me.
> 
> Songs used in this Chapter are here:
> 
>  
> 
> Rapper's Delight-The SugerHill Gang  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM
> 
> Rihanna-Only Girl (In The World)  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa14VNsdSYM
> 
> Tell Me-Groove Theory  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THtqUDitQ4I
> 
> I love hearing from you, so please feel free to leave comments.
> 
> Chat with me on tumblr blj2007
> 
> Thank You to my incredible friend and beta @LadyMatt. I love you as much as I love skating, okay?

* * *

 

Alec stood in the parking lot and stared up at the sign, ‘Luke’s Roller Dome,’ apprehensively. _Oh boy, here we go. The things I do for my siblings,_ he thought as he rolled his eyes.

*Whistling* “Alec! Would you hurry up?! I have a real need to show you how much better I am at skating than you,” Jace said with a huge grin on his face.

Alec picked up the pace and caught up to Jace, Izzy, and Max, with just a few strides of his long legs. “Guys, are you sure we want to do this? Who’s going to take care of Max if we fall and break a leg?”

“Alec, seriously? It’s going to be fine. After walking in six-inch heels all the time, how hard can four little wheels be?”

“I don’t walk in six-inch heels, Izzy,” Alec said, stating the obvious.

“Maybe you should!” Jace laughed, before getting distracted by a car in the lot, “Daaaammnnn! Did Luke get a new car?”

Alec turned his attention to the car in question. Parked at an angle right by the front door, was a blacked out brand new Dodge Charger. With windows tinted so dark you couldn’t see inside, custom matte paint job, and shiny charcoal rims, it definitely stood out amongst all the cars in the lot. He had to admit it was pretty impressive, even if it likely got awful gas mileage.

“Nope, Luke still has his truck. That’s not his,” Alec answered, shaking his head.

“Well, that sucks, I was going to ask him to drive it,” Jace said as he opened the door and motioned for them to go inside.

Alec rolled his eyes at that, “Yeah right. After you wrecked your motorcycle, who would let you near their car?” He stopped at the glass window, and was greeted by a girl on the other side wearing a nametag that said ‘Maia’.

“Thanks for paying, big brother,” said Izzy as she grabbed Max’s hand and walked through into the rink.

“Wow, Izzy, yeah. Because I’m rich, of course,” Alec mumbled more to himself than anyone else.

He grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and looked up at Maia, who was staring at him with raised eyebrows, trying not to laugh. “I like her style! So four admissions, then? Everyone needs skate rental too?”

Alec thought about that for a moment. “Ummm, yeah. I guess we do. Do people actually pay to get in here and then not skate?”

This time Maia did laugh, “Not usually, but some people have their own skates and don’t need the rental ones.”

“Oh, ok. Well I’m not that cool, I guess. We do need skates, please,” Alec paid for their admission, collected the tickets for the skate rental counter, and apprehensively walked into the rink. He found his siblings sitting on a big, round bench near the front door.

“Whoooaaa!” Max exclaimed, “This place is so cool!”

“Yeah, so cool,” Alec said, his tone indicating he thought the exact opposite was true. He had reluctantly let Izzy and Jace talk him into taking Max roller skating as a special treat for his good grades this semester. Max had been begging to come check out Luke’s place for months, and Alec had finally caved. Now that they were here, though, he was really wishing he had stayed home and let Jace and Izzy bring Max without him. _What the hell had he got himself into?_

“Come on, Max. Let’s go get everyone’s skates!” Jace said with way too much enthusiasm for a guy who was about to put wheels on his feet.

Alec stood next to where Izzy was sitting and took in the scene around him. Right in the middle of the circular building was a huge wooden skate floor, enclosed all the way around by a half wall. To the right was the snack bar area with tables for eating. To the left was the skate rental and service counter, lockers and restrooms. All the way on the other side of the skate floor was a game room, with video games and pool tables. On that side as well, but accessible to the skate floor, there was a DJ booth. Alec could see Luke there doing his thing, as he took in the music booming from the overhead speakers. Above the DJ booth was a digital sign with the name and lyrics of the current song being played. There were carpet covered, round benches dotted around the place for people to sit and rest, or put their skates on. Actually there was carpet EVERYWHERE. Carpet on the benches, the floors, and even the walls. Alec swore he had died and went to carpet hell.

Even though they had gotten there promptly at seven for the Friday night skate, there were already quite a few people here. The skating floor was packed full of skaters, while others walked around putting their belongings in lockers or getting their rental skates. He could think of about twenty things he would rather be doing with his Friday night. Going to the gym, playing video games, watching a movie, getting a root canal...the list went on. _For Max_ , he reminded himself.

“Alec, we got you a size thirteen. That’s right?,” Max yelled over the music, walking back to them with his arms full of skates.

“Yep, that should do it, buddy. Let’s do this, Lightwoods!” Alec said with mock excitement on his face, as he took the hideous tan and blue rental skates from his brother. This may not have been Alec’s idea of fun, but he wasn’t going to ruin it for Max. His little brother didn’t have the easiest life, with being bounced around between himself, Izzy, and Jace while their parents were off traveling the world in pursuit of their dreams, and climbing the corporate ladder. Max always got good grades, and he never complained, so Alec was going to indulge him and at least attempt to have a good time. _Still. This should be interesting, to say the least_. Alec sat down with his siblings on the bench and put his skates on, handing off his shoes to Jace who was already in his and up moving their belongings into a locker. _Show off!_ Alec scowled at Jace’s back, thankful that at least he couldn’t see the smug smile that was no doubt plastered on his face. Alec finally got his own skates laced up and thought _Maybe I can just sit here and watch?_

“Alec, come on!!” Izzy shouted over the music. He looked up to see all three of them moving toward the skate floor. He held up one finger asking for a minute and looked around the rink, hoping there would be no witnesses to his imminent face plant. There were all ages of people on the floor, with differing degrees of ability. Alec saw one little girl that looked barely five years old flying around the rink in her own skates, he saw grown adults struggling to stay upright in rental skates ( _Hello, future me._ ), and every level of skill in-between. Most of the struggling skaters stayed toward the inside of the rink, while the better ones were on the outside. It reminded Alec of a slow lane/fast lane driving situation, except opposite. Alec watched as Max, Izzy and Jace skated right in the middle of the floor. _Wow. Look at them go,_ Alec thought as he watched them. Max was actually pretty good at this skating thing, for a kid who had only been once or twice at school parties. Alec noticed Izzy waving a hand at him, motioning for him to get out there, and he held up one finger again, hoping to stall for a just a few minutes longer.

Alec heard Luke’s voice come over the speaker welcoming everyone to the Friday night skate, and announcing that the jam shuffle skate was next. _What the hell is a jam skate??_ He didn’t have to wonder for long, though, because just then the song changed, the lights dimmed, and disco balls lit up the skate floor. _Ok, if there ever is a time to get out there, surely it’s when the lights are dimmed, right?! Less chance of being seen looking stupid_. Alec stood up gingerly. _So far so good._ He slid his skates back and forth on the carpet, making his way to the opening in the wall where you entered and exited the skate floor. He tried to get his siblings’ attention, but they were already on the other side. Maybe it was better to start out by himself anyway, that way he wouldn’t have to hear endless teasing from Jace if he immediately bit the dust. Alec tentatively put one skate on the wooden floor, and then the other, feeling suddenly unstable, like his feet were going to slide out from under him. Ok, he knew he could do this. All that boxing and running to keep in shape had to count for something, right?? Alec instinctively used his toe stop to kick-off and gain some momentum. He was concentrating so hard on staying upright with the new speed that he didn’t see _him_ until he was whizzing by, mere inches away.

Alec saw a blur of black clothes and bright skates doing something he didn’t even know was possible. Dancing? On skates? Really, that was the only way to describe it. He put all his energy into holding his balance as he watched this man, who was now already on the other side of the rink and quickly making his way around to pass him again. Alec moved a little to his left, to get out of the way, and then concentrated on those bright skates. They were crossing over each other in a smooth, repetitive pattern, to the beat of the music. Then his jaw almost hit the floor when he watched the man turn around and skate backwards for a few beats, before spinning around three or four times and resuming his fancy crossover footwork again. Alec was totally mesmerized. He had never seen anyone move like that in his life. The man was so smooth, and graceful, and so in sync with the music that it was surely an extension of his body. Dancing on skates was an understatement. This was an artform. And he wasn’t the only one out there skating like that, there were actually a whole line of them behind him, some in tandem, and all close together. Clearly the guy in the lead with the bright skates was the best out of all of them.

Alec was so hypnotized by Mr. Fancy Feet, that he didn’t even notice Max had joined him. In fact, he was so surprised that he almost fell over when Max grabbed onto his arm.

“Alec, this is so fun!!! I’m pretty good at this. Can we come next weekend? Can I buy skates like those guys, you know those fast guys?” Max said, pointing to the line of skaters doing the jam dance skate thing.

Alec leaned over as much as he could without falling so that Max could hear him over the music, “um, Max we’ll have to talk about it later, ok. I’m not sure. Where did Izzy and Jace go?”

“They went over there,” Max said as he pointed to the DJ booth. Sure enough, there was Izzy and Jace over by the booth, chatting up Luke.

“They just left you by yourself, Max?” Alec asked, with a frown.

“No, I left them. I’m great! Watch me. I can even go backwards.”

Panicking slightly, Alec tried to reach out for him, but Max was already turning around to show him. Even as Alec winced, he had to admit that he was impressed with how well Max was doing. He started rolling backwards, and Alec saw the collision coming, but was powerless to stop it in time, or yell loud enough for Max to hear him. He had run right into a little girl and they’d both gone down. Alec hit his toe stop so he wouldn’t run into his brother, then he realized his predicament. ”Shit!” If he leaned down to help his brother up, he was most certainly going to fall over, himself. Neither Max or the little girl needed his giant frame crashing down on top of them.

Suddenly, Alec heard a loud skidding noise, the sound of a whistle blowing, and then felt a hand curl around his bicep. He stiffened and braced himself for impact, thinking someone was crashing into him. When the impact never came, he looked up to find Mr. Fancy Feet. He was so close that Alec could smell his cologne, see the details of his face, and the whistle between his lips. He held onto Alec’s arm to anchor himself as he offered his other hand to help Max up. As he leaned over, his necklaces dangled down toward the floor, and Alec tried to remember how to breathe. He noticed how the Good Samaritan had positioned his skates to form a protective circle around Max, using his body as a shield until Max could stand.

Alec felt like he should be doing something to help, but he didn’t want to risk losing contact with that grip on his arm. _Idiot! You don’t even know this guy._ He watched as Max was pulled to his feet, and then the stranger spoke to Max briefly, before he stood up, nodded at Alec and sped off again. The little girl had hopped right up and was off skating again by the time Max was helped up.

“Max, are you ok?” Alec asked a little breathless, and not entirely because of the scare his little brother just gave him.

“Yeah, I’m good. How cool is that guy?! Did you see his skates? Did you see how he stopped without his brakes? He used his wheels to stop. Just skidded them. SOOOOO cool, Alec!” Max’s whole face lit up.

“Yeah, very cool, Max. Hey, do you want to go and get a drink with me?” he asked as he looked Max over.

“Nah, I’m good. I want to keep practicing. That’s what he said. He said ‘every time you fall down, you get back up, and pretty soon you won’t fall as much,’ Max beamed up at him.

“Good advice, buddy. I’m going to get a drink. I’ll be right over there. No more backwards skating with all these people here, ok? Let’s get the forward part down first. Tell Izzy and Jace where I went.” Alec was glad he was close to one of the exits, and wouldn’t have to go all the way around again.

“Ok, bye!” Max said before he was off again with an animated wave.

Even with the exit being so close, it still took Alec a moment to navigate himself through the sea of skaters and off the floor to the snack bar. He ordered a Coke and carried it to a nearby table very carefully. Thankful to be seated, and not in danger of making a fool of himself for a moment, he took a sip and searched for Jace and Izzy. Of course Jace was speeding around like he had been doing this his whole life. Jace was naturally talented at pretty much everything he tried. Alec swore he got through on sheer confidence. Sometimes he wished he had an overinflated sense of self to help him get by as well, but that’s not how he was. Even Izzy was doing better than he thought she would be, he watched as his sister attempted to dance with Max. He was sure none of his siblings looked even remotely as awkward as he did. He sighed heavily and took another sip of his drink.

Alec heard Luke announce that it was an adults only Jam skate song, and watched as most of the people cleared the floor. He was glad that he had gotten in line for a drink before all these kids came rushing over to the snack bar. He didn’t recognize the song that started, so he looked up to read the screen. The song was “Rapper’s Delight”. _Hmmm. Interesting_. He had never heard of it, but it had a good beat, and he watched as all the adults that were left on the floor quickly formed into a line right on the outside edge and picked up speed. He was fascinated at how they all fell into a rhythm and were skating exactly in unison. _How?_ At the very front of the line was the guy from before, of course, and Alec found that his eyes were glued to him. He watched as he crossed his feet over in the same way that he did before, only faster this time, and then went up on two wheels before spinning around and skating the turns backwards, doing exactly as he had been doing before, but in reverse. Then, just as smoothly as when he turned backwards, he flipped himself forward again. All of this he did while speeding confidently around the rink. Alec could not tear his eyes away from this man, taking in more details with every lap he completed. He had tall, black, spikey hair, and tan skin. Did he have eyeliner on? Yes, he definitely was wearing eyeliner. He had on a black v-neck t-shirt, showing off the edges of two tattoos...One peeking out from the left sleeve of his shirt, and one peeking out over his right collarbone. Alec couldn’t see enough of them to know what they were, but his curiosity was definitely piqued. Tight black jeans completed the mystery man’s outfit, with several necklaces and rings adorning his chest and hands. He even had the cartilage pierced on one of his ears. His skates were bright with intricate designs, a far cry from the plain rental skates. They were pink and purple, which Alec thought was a bold choice but, he couldn’t deny that they looked incredible as a contrast to the dark clothes. Alec watched as he fell into an easy tandem skate with one of the women of the group, holding her hand as they glided along, and wondered if they were together. He checked the woman’s left hand for a ring. He didn’t see one, but that didn’t mean they weren’t dating. His heart sank. _What? Alec. Stop being ridiculous_ , he told himself. Why was his mind going there? It really wasn’t any of his business. He shouldn’t care.

“See something you like?” Izzy asked him as she sat down.

Alec glared at her as he slid the drink her way.

Not a bit fazed by his dirty look, she continued, “He’s impressive, huh?”

“You are going to have to be a little more specific. There are a lot of ‘he’s’ in here.”

Izzy laughed, “Oh-kay Alec, pretend to not know who I’m talking about. But seriously, if I were you I would be out there, falling on purpose so he would come help me up.”

“Go right ahead,” Alec said, gesturing towards the floor with his hands.

“One...he’s not my type, and Two...I would never do that to you.”

Clearly seeing that Izzy wasn’t going to let this go, he threw his hands in the air, and barked out, “Do _what_ to me, Isabelle? I don’t even know the guy!”

“Oh, so you do suddenly know which one I’m talking about?” Izzy teased.

“What do you want from me?” Alec whispered as he looked around their table, and lowered his head closer to his sister, “Yes, I think he’s impressive...and….hot, ok? But, he’s probably not even into guys. He was skating with that woman earlier.”

“Oh, Alec. Sometimes you are so unobservant,” Izzy laughed in disbelief.

“What?! What are you talking about? What did I miss?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” and with a wink she was up and off to wait in line for food with Jace and Max.

 

* * *

 

Magnus skidded to a stop, let go of Cat’s hand, and stepped onto the carpet. Luke had just announced the couple’s skate, and that was always a good time for him to get something to drink, before the inevitable offers to pair up came in. He looked around the rink, eyes searching for a certain dark head of hair sticking out above the rest. He felt a tug on his pant leg and looked down to see Madzie, his sweet five-year-old friend.

“Hey, you. Do you want to go get something to drink with me?” Magnus asked as he smiled down at her.

Madzie frowned and said, “This skate isn’t rolling very good. It’s stuck.”

“Well we can’t have that, can we, pumpkin? Let’s go over here to the counter and I’ll look at it for you.” Magnus picked her up easily in one arm, and made his way over to the rental and service counter, where Raphael was filling in for Alaric with a scowl.

Winter was always an exceptionally busy time of year for the rink, with all the kids being unable to play outside sports, and flocking to the rink for a little fun. Luke had to pull Alaric from the skate counter, and put him up front with Maia to help man the door and the snack bar. That meant Raphael had been asked to fill with the skates, a position he’d grudgingly accepted. Magnus himself had even helped out more than usual the past few weeks. He had always supported Luke when needed, queuing up music (he had a knack for it), manning a whistle to get the attention of rowdy kids, and helping people up off the floor. Recently though, he would also hop behind the counter to help fix skates, and even take money at the register. It was the least he could do for his friend Luke, who had given him complete access to the rink so that he could skate whenever he wanted.

Magnus had a rough childhood. His mother’s tragic suicide and his father’s abandonment had left him without parents, and meant he had been bounced around from place to place. He and Luke had been friends for as long as he could remember, having started out as casual acquaintances at school, but quickly becoming very close. Magnus sought refuge with Luke’s family, and the two became inseparable. Luke’s father managed the rink until Luke took over, and as a child, Magnus discovered that he not only loved skating, but was rather talented at it. He spent all his free time skating, which only made him better. In fact, he was so immersed in the skating world, that even as an adult, he enjoyed his position with one of the top skate companies, designing their skates. Magnus was doing what he loved, he had great friends, and life was really good now. Love hadn’t always been so great to him, but you couldn’t have it all, could you? It was humbling for him to think that he wouldn’t have any of it if it wasn’t for the Garroway family. So, Magnus was more than happy to help Luke with anything he needed at the rink, for as long as he needed it.

Another added benefit of spending so much time here was that he was able to take some of the kids under his wing. He had brought in some of the kids he met while volunteering at the Community Center, and gave them a safe place to have fun. He would offer rides to some, while others got dropped off here every weekend night, by a parent who had to work or who wanted a break. These kids sometimes just barely had enough money to pay admission, so Magnus would tell Maia to charge their expenses to his tab, covering anything from their skate rental to refreshments. Luke offered to cover those costs himself, but Magnus knew that owning your own business meant that things were tough, financially. This was one of the ways he was able to pay his own blessings forward. So before he knew it, Magnus had amassed quite a large adopted family of sorts. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Magnus had a soft spot for Madzie. She was being raised by her seventeen-year-old brother, another child who Magnus mentored at the center, after their mom left. He had been helping out with Madzie, and giving money to Sean, so that he could stay in school and keep Madzie from going to foster care. Magnus believed that a child was better off with a loving sibling than in the foster care system, so he did what he could to keep them together. Madzie was one of the kids he picked up every week to bring skating. She was actually a very good skater, having been taught by Magnus since she was about three-years-old. He had given her a pair of skates for her birthday, designed by him of course, and she had been thrilled. Her brother was good friends with Magnus, but he did not like to skate. He preferred to play basketball with his friends on Fridays, and Magnus was happy to give him that break. Watching Sean skate had been painful and awkward, not unlike a certain darkly mysterious, pretty boy, who he couldn’t keep his eyes off of tonight.

Magnus sat Madzie down on the counter gently, lifted the troublesome skate, and motioned to Raphael, “Hand me that 10mm socket, would you?”

“Sure, because I’m not doing too many things as it is,” Raphael huffed out sarcastically, before turning his attention to the little girl on the counter, “Bebita” he said sweetly and patted her on the head.

Raphael was one of Magnus’ closest friends, so he was used to his prickliness and abrupt changes in mood.

“Raph, did you really tell someone that they had a limit of two times that they could exchange skates for a different size?” Magnus asked, as he started checking Madzie’s skate wheels, one-by-one.

“Who seriously does not know their own shoe size? It is utterly absurd, Magnus. I swear they were doing it just to screw with me. So I said, ‘No More!!’”

“Raph, you know that skate sizes and shoe sizes can be very different. Can you please just stop scaring people off? It isn’t good for business. I promise I’ll find someone else to fill in over here soon, even if I have to do it myself.” Magnus looked up, and was satisfied with the curt nod he got from his friend.

“Aha! I found the problem! What happened here? You have string wound all the way around it!” Magnus said as he went to work trying to disentangle string from the wheel, “Nope, it isn’t budging. I’m gonna have to take the whole thing apart. How about you just leave the skates here and walk over to get a drink in your socks, Madz? By the time you get done, I’ll have it all taken care of.”

When he got a nod from Madzie, Magnus helped her take the skates off, set her back on her own two feet, and handed her a five-dollar bill from his wallet. “Get me one too, please. I’ll be right over.”

“Really?! ‘Walk over there in your socks’? Do you know how many people walk all over this floor every day?” Raphael was shaking his head at Magnus, like he had just suggested she go roll in the trash instead of go shoeless.

“I’ll buy her new socks…..Happy?” he went around the counter to the back to find scissors, thinking that it might send Raph over the edge if he asked him to hand him one more thing today.

As Magnus went to work removing the wheel from the other side of the counter, he looked out to make sure Madzie was ok in her socks. He spotted her bright blue shirt with the orange fish on it, easily, and watched as she walked all the way to the snack bar. When he saw Maia give her a big smile, he looked up to the DJ booth at Luke to make sure he was good as well. Luke had just turned the lights back on, and now he would play a few fun songs, and then it would be time for races. Magnus knew the routine like the back of his hand. When he got a thumbs up from his friend, he looked around, searching for a particular person of interest. _He should be easy to find, tall drink of water that he is. Oh. There you are._

Magnus realized why he hadn’t been able to spot the tall frame as easily as he had earlier. The man was sitting down at a table, not too far from where Madzie had taken their drinks. _Thank You, Miss Madz!_

Magnus watched him as he leaned over and said something to the woman next to him, which unless Magnus was mistaken, was very clearly his sister. Their features matching, both incredibly beautiful with dark hair and gorgeous eyes. As he watched the sister smile, he had an inkling of what it might be like to see the man smile as well. He would have to use his imagination for now, though, as the man was currently scowling at his sister. He wondered what had upset him, and suddenly had the completely insane urge to fix whatever it was. _Get a grip, Magnus. What the hell?_ Magnus’ thoughts wandered to the way his hand had felt curled around that strong arm earlier. He had intended to simply help the boy up, so he wouldn’t get run over, he really had. But, before he knew it, he had instinctively reached out and grabbed that arm. At least he had the good sense to make it seem like he needed to brace himself, which of course he actually didn’t. Magnus was so good on skates that he could have helped the little one up while balancing on one skate with both hands tied behind his back.

Magnus shook thoughts of the mystery man out of his head and quickly reassembled Madzie’s skate. He knew she would want to race, and he only had about ten minutes left until Luke announced the start of races. He pitied the person who got in the way of Madzie and her free drink token.

Magnus put the purple wheels back on the glittery blue skates, put the tools back in their place, and hopped over the counter, landing steadily on his skates. He hurried over to the table where Madzie was impatiently bouncing around in her seat and holding out her hands, “Races, Magnus,” she reminded him.

“I know! Let’s get these on so you can go show all those five-year-old’s how it’s done,” Magnus squatted down in front of her, setting one skate on the floor so he could slip the other one on her foot.

“No, not five-year-olds. I’m going to race the older kids today. I’m faster than most of them!” Madzie said with excited confidence on her face.

Magnus chuckled, “Alright there speed racer, you know best.”

Magnus reached down to pick up the other skate. Wait…..Where was the other skate? He looked around him on the floor and didn’t see it anywhere. _Well, shit!_ This happened far too often, where he had a skate run away from him on the slightly sloping, linoleum floor.

“Madzie, do you see your other skate?” he asked as he started to get up from the floor and search for it under the nearby tables.

Magnus stilled as suddenly a hand was holding the missing skate out to him. A hand so large that it made the small skate look downright tiny. Magnus reached out for it as butterflies started stirring in his stomach. He looked up into a pair of spectacular hazel eyes.

“Are you looking for this? It rolled under our table,” the man said as he pointed to where he’d been sitting. At the sound of his deep voice, Magnus’ butterflies went from simply stirring to flapping erratically, and he had to clear his throat to talk.

“Oh, Thank You. I never would have found this little thing in time for races, as bright and sparkly as it is. You saved the day!” Magnus reached out to take the skate, purposely brushing the tips of his fingers against the other man’s ever so lightly.

The smile that he got in return lit his whole world up in the very best way. Whoa! This beautiful man didn’t just smile with his mouth, he smiled with his whole face. Cheeks lifting, Eyes crinkling on the corners and lighting up like they were privy to some delightful secret. He needed to know that secret like he needed air.

Magnus quickly rose from the floor, positioning one skate toe-stop down so he wouldn’t roll, and said, “Hi. I’m Magnus, and this is Madzie,” without taking his eyes off of the beautiful man in front of him, he leaned back and handed Madzie her skate, so that she could get it on before the race.

“Hi….uh, Alec.” he said, still smiling, and actually looking a little dazed. Then he looked over at Madzie and said “Cool fish!” referring to her shirt.

 _Alec. Short for Alexander, maybe?_ Magnus quickly thought of something else to say to keep having an excuse to talk to this wonderful creature.

“How is your….” he started to ask, and then realized he didn’t know who the boy from earlier was to him.

“My brother. He’s fine…..uh, yeah. Thanks for your help earlier,” he said.

“Oh, no problem at all. I told him not to get discouraged. We all fall sometimes.” Magnus discreetly checked for a wedding ring on Alec as he spoke. When he didn’t see one, he kept going, “So is this your first time here? I haven’t seen any of you before.”

“Yeah, it is. My brother, sister, and I finally gave in to Max’s pleading and risked life and limb to let him have some fun. Max is the little one, by the way,” he gestured to Max, who waved excitedly at Magnus from the table.

Magnus laughed, “Oh, well I am glad he’s the little one. I wouldn’t suggest giving in to pleading from the big one, it might encourage bad behavior,” Magnus pointed at Jace.

“Yeah, well it’s the little firecracker over there that we really have to worry about,” Alec said, referring to Izzy.

“Oh, no doubt about that. I could see that from a mile away. I like her already,” Magnus looked at Izzy and they beamed at each other.

At that moment Cat came whizzing by Magnus and yelled out “Magnus, darling, I’m waiting for you to make me feel like the only girl in the world!”

 _What is Cat talking about?_ It took his brain a moment to catch up to Cat’s remark. He realized what song was playing and said “I’ll be right there, Cat!!” back at her. They had also been friends for a long time, and he knew that she had requested Luke play “Only Girl In The World” just to be able to tease him.

Magnus turned his attention away from Cat and stared at Alec, trying to decide something. A few more minutes and he would surely be able to find out if Alec was attached to anyone. No ring meant he probably wasn’t married. The blonde model over there was his brother, so he didn’t have to worry about him. He wondered if there was a girl or guy in his life. He was way too stunning to not have been snatched up by someone yet. Magnus never assumed anyone’s sexuality, though, being bisexual himself. Still, he was getting a vibe from Alec that suggested he was interested. Something about the way he looked at him with nervous excitement.

“Magnus, it’s my race. I’m going!” Magnus was snapped out of his thoughts by Madzie.

“Well if it’s her race, then that means mine is coming up too, and I can’t have her thinking she’s the only winner around here. Hopefully I’ll see you guys around again. Skates are running away all the time, might need more help finding them,” and with a wink, Magnus spun around dramatically on his skates and took off after Madzie to the skate floor.

After the race, which Magnus and Madzie both won, of course, Magnus skated with his friends for the rest of the night. The whole time he kept looking at Alec, trying to get him to meet his eyes. Once, when he was getting his stuff out to leave, he looked up to see Alec staring at him, but then he quickly looked away as soon as Magnus met his eyes. _Damnit._ He didn’t know if he was ever going to see this man again, and he couldn’t handle the thought of that.

Magnus saw Max skate by just as he was putting on his Converse, and he made a split-second decision, taking the only opportunity he might get to ensure he saw Alec again.

“Hey, Max! You are really doing great out there. Are you having fun?” Magnus asked, giving Max a smile.

“Yes! I love it! It’s so exciting!!” Max beamed at him, “I think I’m even better than Jace!”

 _Ok Magnus, just do the thing._ He couldn’t believe he was using a child’s love of skating as an excuse see a guy again, but here he was, reaching in his pocket and pulling out three of the ‘Free Admission’ passes he always had on hand for the kids, and handing them to Max.

“Hey, here are some free passes. You should really come back. Not too many kids are this great at skating their first few times and I think you should keep practicing.” In Magnus’ defense, it was all true, even if he did have ulterior motives.

“Awesome!! Thanks so much! You were amazing out there. I love your skates! I wish I had some like that. I’ll be back for sure!”

Magnus grinned at the endless words of excitement, and then looked up when he heard a loud voice yell “Max! We have to go. Izzy has to get to work.”

He waved to Max and watched as he bounded over to his siblings and showed them the passes, pointing in Magnus’ direction. _Look at me. Look at me. Look at me_ , he thought.

Magnus watched as Alec looked up in the direction Max was pointing and saw him. He was about to take the opportunity to unleash his most seductive stare on Alec, but was surprised when Alec started walking his way instead. He couldn’t believe this plan of his was actually working so perfectly.

At that exact moment Luke announced the last song of the night, which was “Tell Me”. _No fucking way!_ A song that had the lyrics:

 _Tell me if you want me to_  
_Give you all my time, I wanna make it good for you,_  
_Cause you blow my mind, I promise boy that I’ll be true._

….was surely a sign from the universe that Magnus needed to make a move here. Alec was navigating around the people in the rink and was nearly to him, so Magnus made a snap decision and quickly reached into his bag for a pen.

“Hey, Magnus. Max is over there talking a mile-a-minute about you giving him free passes. That’s really generous of you. I just wanted to say Thanks,” Alec said as he met his eyes.

Magnus offered the piece of paper in his hand to Alec before he lost his nerve and replied, “Well, actually I only gave Max three passes. Here, this one is for you.”

“Oh wow, that’s great. Thanks again.” Alec reached out and took the slip of paper.

Magnus slung his bag over his shoulder, tucked his skates under his arm, and said, “Anytime, really.”

“Thanks...See you..I guess...yeah. Bye,” Alec waved and turned to leave.

Magnus waited until he had gotten about twenty feet, before calling out his name.

Alec turned back around to see what he wanted, and Magnus said, “I wrote my number on the back of that one. If Max ever needs a ride here, just give me a call. I know that you don’t really know me yet, but Luke can vouch for me. If not, that’s cool too, I just thought I would make sure you have my number in case you need it.”

Magnus watched as Alec nodded ever so slightly and stared at him with a wide-eyed, open mouth expression for a few moments before turning around and heading back to his siblings. Izzy was smiling from ear to ear and waving at him from the door. _Oh, yes, this was going to be very interesting, indeed._


	2. Every Little Thing I Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec can't wait to get back to the skating rink to see Magnus, and Magnus is just as intrigued by him. Will Alec make a move? Will Magnus break his rules and pursue a person from the rink? Alec and Max are still getting used to skating, while Magnus and Madzie are still ruling the rink! Somebody gets in between someone else's legs......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, sorry for taking so long to update. I'm going to try to be faster about it next time. 
> 
> Thanks to my beautiful and talented beta @LadyMatt I love you more than Sam in a backwards cap.
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @blj2007
> 
> As always, please feel free to leave me comments. They really do keep me going.
> 
> The songs used in this Chapter are here :)
> 
> Chapter Title comes from Soul For Real's Every Little Thing I Do
> 
> Justin Bieber-Beauty and a Beat  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iFAfqtZxmI
> 
> V.I.C-Wobble  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHi1sZj5C3E
> 
> Soul For Real-Every Little Thing I Do  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VQc0QZRXu8
> 
> I can't for the life of me get my embedded links to work, so be patient with me on that, please :) I'll work on it! Copy and paste for now!
> 
> I don't own any of these songs, or their lyrics :)

* * *

 

Alec woke up with a crick in his neck and a dead leg. He winced, and tried to get comfortable on the couch, not quite ready to get up for the day. He checked his watch to see that it was just six-thirty, and stretched his long legs out, hanging them over the edge of the furniture. Okay, this was going to take some getting used to. He had given Max his bed again, since Izzy had to work late and Max stayed with him on Thursday nights.

Had he known his parents weren’t going to be around at all this winter he would have never gotten a roommate. His second bedroom would have really come in handy with Max being here so much. So, while Simon definitely helped him with rent, he didn’t help with the sleeping situation. Sure he could just sleep in his Queen size bed with his brother, but Alec quickly learned that Max talked _and_ thrashed around in his sleep. After getting kicked in the crotch and smacked in the face a few times, he decided that sleeping in the living room was a much safer option. Which was saying something, because he was way too tall for it. Grabbing his phone off the coffee table, he pulled up his Google Keep app and made himself a note to order a new couch, a _huge_ one, maybe even a sectional. It was either that or bunkbeds, and his sex life was already non-existent enough without a mood killer in his room.

He checked his text message notifications, seeing one from his mother asking about Max, which he quickly typed a short but effective reply for, and then pulled up his thread with Izzy to look at her five new messages.

**Hey, soooooo….You know how I said that last Friday night with work was a one-time thing?**

**Well, they have asked me to start filling in more Fridays. The hospital is really busy right now and they need third shift lab technicians.**

**Apparently nobody else is as awesome as me, so I get to be the lucky winner of Friday night overtime!**

**Can you take Max skating by yourself tonight? Keep him Friday nights as well as Thursdays? And I’ll pick him up on Saturday evenings from now on?**

**Be there to drive him to school on my way home from work this morning. See you soon!**

Skating. There was that word again. This last week ‘skating’ had been the hot topic, because Max had loved it. He had been asking to go again non-stop since last Friday. Izzy had promised him that they would take him tonight, since that was usually her night with him anyway. Unless they had something fun planned as a family, Alec usually spent his Friday nights in the gym, boxing. Sometimes Jace would even join him, if he wasn’t going out with his girlfriend, Lydia. Alec was glad his sister couldn’t go, because even though he wanted to tag along with Izzy and Max to the rink, he didn’t dare tell Izzy that. She would suspect that he wanted to see Magnus, and because she’d be right, he wanted to keep that to himself for now.

Alec wasn’t ashamed of who he was, but he was also a private person and didn’t want his business broadcast all over the place. All of his immediate family know that he was gay, except for Max. He hadn’t had a reason yet to discuss his romantic life with his eleven-year old brother, because he hadn’t been serious enough with anyone to introduce them to his family. Everyone else had found out in a very organic way, because he hadn’t wanted to make a big deal about it.

Their different reactions had been interesting. His parents weren’t happy about it, and Jace seemed ambivalent, treating him exactly the same as before, but Izzy handled it differently than anyone else. She wanted to be loud and proud about it for him. She tried to be his wingman all the time, which is how both her and Jace found out he was gay in the first place. He had to put his foot down after she’d tried to fix him up with copious amounts of random girls. Funny thing was, she acted no differently once she realized he was gay, except now she tried to fix him up with guys instead of girls. So this whole skating thing worked out so much better with Izzy working Fridays. He had the perfect excuse to see Magnus, without the stress of keeping Izzy reigned in.

 _Shit,_ in twelve short hours he would be seeing Magnus again. Alec got butterflies in his stomach just thinking about it. He had pulled that pass out of his wallet and looked at the name and number on the back at least ten times in the last few days. He hadn’t told his siblings about Magnus’ offer to drive Max to the rink, or the fact that he had given him his number. He knew his sister would meddle and he didn’t want that. Alec didn’t even need to look at the back of that card anymore, because he could picture Magnus’ handwriting with ease. Even his penmanship was attractive.

His alarm on his phone went off, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Ok, ok. I’m up,” Alec made his way to the kitchen, started the coffee pot and went to wake Max. He heard the shower turn off as he walked by the bathroom. Simon always woke up about thirty minutes before him so that they could both have a chance in the bathroom before work. They had this roommate thing down to a science. Simon drove him crazy with his endless chatter sometimes, but Alec had to admit that he was a great roommate and a genuinely nice guy. That kept him from killing him when he talked about Star Wars before he even had the chance to drink his coffee in the morning.

“Max, time to get up buddy. We have to get you to school,” Alec sat on the edge of the bed and nudged his brother.

“I don’t wanna. Ten minutes,” Max threw the covers over his head.

“Izzy is going to be here to pick you up soon, so you gotta get up. Bathroom’s all yours. We are going skating tonight, so you have that to look forward to,” Alec waited until Max was up and moving before going to make them something to eat. He should’ve started with skating, because that got Max out of bed quickly.

He scrambled some eggs and added some cheese, just how Max liked them. After he had downed a cup of coffee and unloaded the dishwasher, Alec went and took a shower himself. He ran through all he needed to get done at work that day in his head while he got ready.

He was a computer programmer for a pharmaceutical company, Pharmasource. A job which he got through connections of Isabelle’s at the hospital. That’s also how he met Simon, because he worked in another department on the same floor as Alec. He had always been really good at math and computers, so this field was a natural choice for him to earn a degree in. He completed college in record time and had been working in the field now for about two years. He had amassed quite a skill set, and could do everything from writing code for complex programs, to designing websites.

Alec realized that he had a full schedule and if he was going to be done with work in time to pick Max up, then he needed to get to work a little early and take a quick lunch. He was thankful that at least Izzy was picking up Max for school today, as it would save him some time. He hurried through his shower, and was just turning the water off when he heard voices out in the living room and realized Izzy must be there. Once dressed, Alec rushed around his room and stuffed things in his work bag. As he passed by the mirror his thoughts turned again to Magnus, all sleek black clothes, and bright skates, with necklaces and rings adorning his body. He really looked conservative compared to that. He went back to his closet for a minute, and on a whim, changed his shirt, removing his gray t-shirt and replacing it with a blue button down that Izzy had bought him for his birthday. There was no dress code for work, so he usually just choose comfortable clothes, but thinking about seeing Mr. Fancy Feet later, made him want to step up his game a little.

When he joined the others in the living room, Alec was immediately put on his guard. Simon was doing his best Yoda impression and Izzy was laughing loudly. He knew that laugh. That was Izzy’s “I like this guy so I’m going to go overboard with laughing even though I have no idea what he’s talking about” routine. She didn’t even know she was doing it, but Alec did, and he wanted to put a stop to it. His sister always had to go and charm the pants off everyone. Sometimes literally. _Yuck._ He hadn’t expected this. Simon was such a nerd. He lived for video games, Dungeons and Dragons, rambled senselessly, and stuttered over his words. Alec never even considered that Izzy might like him. _Great! Gonna have to kick my roommate out now. Ugh,_ Alec thought as he stepped in between Izzy and Simon.

“Hey, Izzy. He’s ready to go. We already studied his spelling, so he’s ready for his test. You just have to get him to school on time. You guys better get going, or you’ll be late.”

“Alec, school doesn’t start for thirty minutes. We’ll be fine,” Izzy gave him a knowing smile, then added “I like the shirt. Bout’ time you wore it. You going to wear it skating tonight?”

“Yes. Wait, maybe. Does it look good? I can change it. No, I’m not going to wear it. I’ll change later,” Alec stumbled all over the place trying to decide about the damn shirt.

“It looks amazing. Of course it does. Blue is your color, and besides, I have impeccable taste,” Izzy replied with a pointed stare at Simon.

“O-Kay, out you go. Let’s all get going,” Alec nearly shoved his sister and brother out the door.

“See you at work, Simon!” he yelled over his shoulder.

“Wait, do you want to ride together? I’ve been meaning to ask you...we are going the same place everyday anyway. I can drive, or you can drive. Either way is fine with me. We don’t have to carpool _everyday_ if you don’t want to, but maybe sometime if you want,” Simon rambled on.

Alec was thankful he couldn’t see his face as he rolled his eyes in the most exaggerated way possible. “No, thanks. I have stuff to do after work.”

 

* * *

 

Alec followed Max to stand in line at the entrance of the rink. He was glad he was tall enough to see over everyone’s head, as he looked past them all to see if he could find Magnus. His eyes searched everywhere, but he couldn’t find either him or Madzie. He took a moment to try to calm his nerves, smoothing out the front of his shirt and checking his hair in the glass of the ticket booth. Was it too styled? It was. He messed it up just a little bit. _Shit, now it’s too messy._ Alec was so busy looking for Magnus and worrying about his damn hair that he didn’t realize it was their turn at the counter. When Max tugged on his shirt, he quickly pulled two of the free passes out of his wallet along with a five-dollar-bill for the skate rental.

“Just two tonight?” Maia asked with a smile.

“Yep, that’s it. And two skate rentals please,” Alec handed her the passes and the money.

“So you guys are hooked, now, huh?”

“Well, one of us is,” Alec replied, leaving out the part about how he was definitely hooked, just not on skating.

“Well, just so you know, next week is the special Valentine’s Day skate. Skating goes until two a.m. You guys should definitely come, and tell your friends too. It’s always a really good time.”

“Ok, I’m sure this guy won’t forget,” Alec pointed his thumb in Max’s direction.

When Maia handed them their skate tickets and buzzed them into the door, Alec immediately resumed his search for Magnus. Without taking his eyes off the skate floor, he handed the tickets to Max and said “here buddy, will you go get our skates, please?”

With each pass he made with his eyes over the rink, Alec became more disappointed. Surely Magnus would be here, after telling him he should come back and offering a ride. Alec kept looking anyway, hoping that maybe he was just preoccupied somewhere.

A few minutes passed, and Max came back with their skates. Still, no Magnus.

“Aren’t you going to put yours on, Alec?” Max held his skates out to him.

“Yeah, uh, in a minute. I’m going to go talk to Luke. Be right back. You go ahead and get started without me.”

Alec walked all the way around to the other side of the rink and up to the DJ booth. He could see Luke queuing up songs, and then he noticed him, waved and hopped down.

“I just wanted to say Hi, didn’t mean to interrupt you.” Alec smiled at Luke.

“You aren’t interrupting me at all. I’m glad to see you boys again. Jace and Izzy here too?” Luke looked around the rink.

“No, Izzy picked up some weekend night shifts at the hospital, and Jace is out with Lydia. It’s just Max and I tonight,” Alec tried to maintain eye contact with Luke, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking around the skating floor. Still not seeing the man he was desperately looking for. Alec weighed his options and took a chance.

“Hey, Luke, we were given some free admission passes last week by a man. I think Magnus was his name. _Definitely know his name, but good job playing it cool_ , he thought. I wanted to tell him thanks again. Do you happen to know if he will be here tonight?”

Luke grinned, “Ahhh, Yes. Magnus. One of my best friends. He’s crazy generous. You know, he pays for all those passes himself and gives them to the kids who can’t afford admission. Seems he’s now extending that generosity to my other friends as well.”

Wow. Stunning, talented, _and_ generous. Alec was such a goner. He had a soft spot for people who took care of children and animals, especially when they did it out of choice and not obligation.

Luke looked around, “He is _always_ here. Has his own set of keys, and sometimes he even gets here before me. I haven’t heard otherwise, so I’m sure he is going to be here tonight, but he’s rarely ever late. Let me just shoot him a text and make sure he’s ok. Maybe he ran into a problem when he picked up Madzie.”

 _SHIT!!! No no no no no._ Alec went into full panic mode as Luke’s comment about texting Magnus and picking people up for skating jogged something in his memory. He had given Maia those passes when he came in. Which means that he had given her the one with Magnus’ number on the back. He tried to remember the number, which should have been easy considering he looked at it so many times. For some reason, though, he just blanked on it. Oh, no. This wasn’t good. What if he didn’t come to the rink tonight? He would have to go another week without seeing him and Magnus would think he didn’t want to talk to him. Which, was not even a little bit true. Yeah, sure he never plucked up the nerve to call him this week, but that was because he knew he would be seeing him tonight. He wanted more interaction with him before deciding if Magnus was actually the slightest bit interested in him, or if he was imagining that part. _Damnit!_

“Hey, I texted Magnus, but I gotta get back up here to the music, if-”

Luke was cut off by Alec, “yep, you should go. I gotta go do something real quick.” and then he turned around and practically ran back up to the ticket counter.

There was a line of people at the counter still, going all the way out the door. Alec stood awkwardly by the person who was currently paying and waited to catch Maia’s eye.

“Hey, did you forget something?” she asked, while still making change for the current customer.

“Yeah, um. I gave you an admission pass and I need it back, please,” Alec looked at her sheepishly, hoping she wouldn’t ask for an explanation.

“You need it back?” Maia questioned, this time looking up from her customers to him.

“Yeah, I can pay you for my admission, it’s just that it has some info on the back I need, “ Alec removed his wallet as proof that he was serious about paying for the returned paper.  
“Ok, sure. Let me find it for you,” Maia said as she lifted the cash tray on her register and dug through the papers beneath it, “aha, here we go. You only need the one, back, right? Let’s see which one has extra info on it.”

Oh no. Alec hadn’t thought this far ahead. Maia was going to see Magnus’ name and number on the paper, and surely she knew him. _Shit, shit, shit._ This just got more embarrassing.

“You know what? Just give me them both back. I’ll pay for both of them. That way you don’t have to look while you are so busy. No big deal,” Alec thrust a twenty-dollar-bill at Maia.

“That’s not necessary, here it is,” Maia stopped talking and looked at the paper, pursed her lips, and then smiled slightly. She looked back up at Alec cocked her head with a knowing grin on her face and said, “You know, I’m sure that he would have given it to you again. If you had just asked him.”

He could just feel the blush creeping up his face, and he was suddenly very hot. He wished he had worn a short sleeve shirt instead of this button down, because he was starting to sweat. He lowered his voice and whispered, “Listen, can I _please_ just have it?!”

Maia slowly slid the piece of paper across the counter into Alec’s waiting hand. Then her grin got even bigger as she focused her eyes on someone behind Alec and said, “Hi, Magnus. About time you got here!”

 

* * *

 

 

Magnus had probably checked his phone a hundred times during the week. He knew it was a longshot for Alec to reach out to him, but he couldn’t help wishing it was him every time it made a sound anyway. Today, he had been especially hopeful for a call, thinking that maybe Alec would at least call for a ride for Max. He would have jumped on any reason to talk to him.

Magnus had the day off and he spent it detailing his car, doing some shopping, and touching up his hair and nails. He decided to mix it up a little bit and hopefully stand out and impress Alec. He left his hair styled soft, instead of the stiff spike he had been sporting lately, and he colored the tips bright magenta, to match his skates. He had even picked up a new pair of black boots and a deep purple fitted t-shirt. He kept telling himself that it was high time that he took a day to pamper himself, but he knew it was all in the hope that he got to see Alec again..

When his phone still hadn’t buzzed by six-thirty, he knew that he couldn’t wait any longer. Usually he and Madzie were at the rink by now, and she was going to kill him if he made them too late. Magnus grabbed up his wallet and keys and locked the door to his loft. Once he got down to his car, he turned on his music, and pushed play on _Tell Me_ for about the twentieth time this week. It was a good song, and dammit, if it wasn’t the only thing he had to remind him of his new mystery man. Music had always been very important to Magnus. He had a play list for every situation, and what he was listening to was in sync with how he was feeling at any given moment. He knew that once Madzie got in the car, she would ask for Justin Bieber. So he relished in his song while he could.

Magnus walked into Madzie and Sean’s house, “Hey guys. Sean are there any bills for me to pay from this week?” he questioned the teenager.

“Magnus! YOU are late!!” Madzie stood with her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

“I know, pumpkin. I’m sorry. All of this-” he gestured to his amazing outfit “-takes time.”

“I like your hair, “ she grinned.

“Phew, I’m so very glad you like it. If not I would have to shave it off, and I look scary bald.” he said, pulling a face before looking at Sean, to see if he was going to answer his question.

“Magnus, I don’t think that we need to pay these yet. Maybe I can ask my uncle for money again. You’ve already done enough.” Sean tapped the bills against his hand and bit his lip.

“We’ve been over this, ok. You know why you can’t ask him for money. You know where it comes from. Please, Sean. You only have a year until you graduate, then you can maybe get a job, ok. Until then, I’ll take those. I’m glad somebody can benefit from my ridiculous obsession with skate design.” Magnus snatched the envelopes out of his hand before he could answer, and then so fast it was almost magic, he slipped a folded up hundred dollar bill in Sean’s shirt pocket.

“Groceries. Madzie requests goldfish. Grab your skates, girl. Let’s get going. We don’t want to miss races.”

Magnus buckled the little girl into her car seat, and was once again marveling at the fact that life had brought him to a place where he actually kept a car seat in his vehicle. His badass car was more like a dad-mobile at the moment, but he didn’t mind, because at least Madz was safe.

He checked his phone one last time, returning a few messages that unfortunately had nothing to do with Alec, and then Magnus turned on Justin Bieber’s “Beauty And A Beat” for Madzie and put the pedal to metal, going as fast as he felt comfortable, considering he had a five-year-old in the car. Madz liked going fast almost as much as he did, and sometimes he wondered if a child of his own would share as many things as he did with his little friend. He usually shelved those thoughts pretty fast, considering he had been on hiatus from relationships for over a year now, let alone in the position to start a family.

Sure, Magnus liked to have his fun. He was a single man with a healthy sex drive, and it didn’t do anybody any good to keep things like that pent up. However, he had two rules: One, he never got seriously involved with anyone. After Camille, he swore that he would never again give anyone the power to rip his heart from his chest and stomp on it. Two, he never had ‘fun’ with anyone at the skating rink. That was his safe place, even more so than his loft, and he never wanted to do anything to screw that up. So no employees, no regular skaters, no visitors. Nothing. Which made giving Alec his number completely insane.

Of course he really was genuine in his offer to bring Max to the rink. Seeing the boy so excited over skating made Magnus think of his own childhood, but still, he knew part of the reason he offered was to have the chance to see Alec again. He thought about the lingering look that they’d shared last week, and found it hard to believe that he’d imagined the pull of attraction between them. Considering he hadn’t reached out this week, it seemed he wouldn’t even need to worry about the possibility of breaking his own rules. He tried to be relieved about that instead of upset, and failed miserably.

Magnus slid his car into his usual spot in the lot, which wasn’t really a spot at all, but hey, perks of being best friends with the owner. He opened the back door, grabbed his skates and Madzie’s, and shut the door with his hip. Normally Magnus would never allow a lady to open the door for herself, but considering his hands were full of skates, he let Madzie open the door and walked through with a slight bow of his head and a “Thank You, my dear.” Magnus was still smiling as he made his way around the people in line. Another perk of knowing the owner was avoiding the wait. He heard Maia’s voice saying hello to him just as he looked back to make sure that he hadn’t lost Madz. When he looked up again it was just barely in time to keep himself from running right into Alec, who was standing in the doorway looking like he belonged on the cover of a magazine.

 _Hello gorgeous,_ he thought. Wow. Ok. He was even more beautiful than he remembered, and that was really saying something. Magnus, took in his flushed cheeks, parted lips, and tousled hair and his thoughts got dirty real fast. His fingers itched to undo the buttons on that shirt Alec was wearing. And on that note, blue was definitely his color. Still, no matter what was going through his head, he had always been very good at controlling his response. Years of foster care tended to do that to a person. So, Magnus didn’t miss a beat and smoothly said “Alec! You’re here.”

“Uh, Yeah. Hey. What’s up?” Alec rushed to open the other door for Magnus, seeing that his hands were full.

“Just our usual Friday night! Oh, Thank you!”

Magnus stopped and let Madzie enter first, and then he went through the door, intentionally getting as close to Alec as possible without actually touching him. Which was not a great idea considering his thoughts were already on fire just from the sight of Alec. His body instantly responded to the close proximity, and Magnus was wondering how in the hell he thought he was going to skate when parts of him had other ideas about what he should be doing. It had been way too long since he’d had sex, apparently. It was probably going to be a lot longer too, considering he was pining after a guy who he only knew from the rink.

He watched Alec stop once they were inside and squat down to talk to Madzie, “Hey. Are you going to win those races again today? That was impressive last week. Who knew such little legs could go so fast?!”

She beamed, “I’ve only lost one time, and that was Magnus’ fault for not playing Justin Bieber for me before the race.” Madzie put a hand on her hip and shot a look at Magnus.

Magnus set her skates on the floor and pointed a finger at her, “Hey, Hey, now young lady. You know I am not in charge of the music. I only help out. And anyway, I am firm in my stance that JB is not your good luck charm. You don’t need one, because you are a master of speed. However, I will play your song for you, but only because I’m a gentleman.” Magnus winked at her and began putting on his skates while pretending not to notice how cute they both looked.

Seriously, the sight of Alec putting himself at Madzie’s level to talk to her made Magnus feel all kinds of things. Most adults talked at children and not to them. So the fact that he was eye-to-eye with her while they chatted was incredibly sweet. Of course what else had he expected from a man who brought his little brother skating? He couldn’t hear them too well , because the song had changed to something with bumping bass, but Madzie must have said something funny, because Alec’s whole face lit up as he laughed. _And it gets even better_. Magnus watched as Max skated up to Alec and gestured toward the skates that were waiting for him near a bench. As he took in Alec’s wary expression., a sympathetic smile tugged at his lips. Suddenly Magnus had the overwhelming urge to teach this man how to skate. He was way too pretty and sweet to be insecure about anything. Actually, that was not a bad idea, and Magnus started thinking of ways to make that happen.

 

Alec stood up as Max and Madzie skated off together. He went to the bench and sat down, leaning over to put his own wheels of death on his feet. While removing his shoes, he looked up through his lashes at Magnus, watching him put on his skates. Didn’t everyone just put their skates on and tie them and everything _while standing up? What the actual fuck?!_ Alec was just completely in awe of how this man just got more impressive. He couldn’t keep himself from staring, so he tried to at least be sly about it.

Magnus was balanced on his right skate, and he was lifting his left leg up and untying and removing his black boot, before leaning down, _still_ balanced on only the one skate, and picking his other skate up. He had his knee pulled almost all the way up to his chin and was wiggling his foot into his skate, then tying it. So…..flexible _and_ excellent balance. Right. Check that off the list of awesome. Alec didn’t even know that was something he needed in his life, but turns out he really did.

He looked Magnus up and down while putting on his own skates. He looked different from last time. His hair was less spiky and more pink? Yes, definitely pink. He had colored the tips of it since last week, and was wearing it different. It softly swooped down and just almost touched his forehead. Alec had the urge to go over and touch it, imagining how soft it would be. Magnus had another t-shirt on almost exactly like the one from last week, except this one was in a dark purple shade, and was tighter. His biceps flexed as he tied up his skate and Alec could make out seriously impressive pecs that looked incredible with his necklaces hanging down. Those tattoos were still visible peeking out just over his collarbone and the sleeve of shirt, and Alec wondered if Magnus chose his clothes based on how they only _just_ didn’t cover his tattoos and kept everyone intrigued. If so, it was a really good call on his part, because he had never wanted to remove a shirt so badly in his life. Alec sat up straight just as Magnus lowered his foot to the ground and lifted both arms up above his head, leaned back slightly, and stretched his torso. Alec bit his lip to keep his jaw from hitting the floor when Magnus’ shirt rode up and he had a view of a few inches of a six-pack and perfect, tan skin.

At that exact moment Magnus looked over and saw him watching. Of course he did, because Alec’s life wasn’t complete unless he was blushing. Alec meant to look away, he really did, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from Magnus. So when Magnus cocked his head, raised his eyebrows, and licked his lips, he pretty much died on the spot.

Thankfully he was saved by Luke, who came rolling up to Magnus and broke the spell. Alec was also thankful for the mellow song that was playing so he could hear their conversation as he stood up and attempted to get used to his skates.

“Magnus! Where have you been? I was getting worried.” Luke’s voice was deep and friendly as he patted his friend on the back. “Everyone’s been looking for you. Everything ok with the kids?”

“Everything is peachy, my friend. I just had a very busy day off today. I’m ready to let off some steam. Now if only I can get my dear DJ to play one of my songs.”

“Speaking of that! I forgot to tell you this yesterday, but we got a new system for the music. So now, when you play your choices, your name will show up on the screen. This way everyone knows that you were the one who queued up that particular song and I don’t get blamed for it.” Luke winked at his friend.

“HAA!” Magnus exclaimed. “Get blamed for it?! You are out of your mind. My music choices are impeccable and everyone loves them!”

“Everyone loves _you,_ so they tolerate the onslaught of nineties and early two-thousand’s hip-hop and R &B you give us.” Luke shook his head and grinned.

Magnus gasped in mock horror, “Too far my friend. Too far. Admit that my music is incredible or I’ll tell Raphael that he is on skate counter duty indefinitely.”

“Damn son! Are you trying to get me killed? Honestly, though, we need to talk about that too. I’m thinking about putting out a help wanted ad, just for the winter, after Monday’s incident at the school skating party.”

Magnus whistled, “yeah, that was definitely something. I have never seen a principal look so terrified. Is Raph even here tonight?”

“No way. Ragnor has offered to help out until I find someone else to do it.” Luke pointed to the skate rental counter.

Alec looked over to where the man who must’ve been Ragnor was sticking out like a sore thumb standing there in a suit next to the rows of brown rental skates.

“Let me know if you need any help from me too. I’d be happy to fill in.”

“I sure will. Thanks for always being flexible and going above and beyond to help me. You are more than earning your private rink time.” Luke said, then waved at them both as he ran off back to the booth.

 _Private rink time?_ Alec thought. Interesting. He would give his right arm to know what that was about, and he and his right arm were pretty good friends these days.

Alec listened as the music changed and thought he’d better attempt to get out there. He was making his way to the skate floor at a painfully slow rate when Magnus looked back at him and said “I’ve got to skate to this one or Cat will kill me. Will you let me know if you or Max need anything?”

Alec nodded and then watched as Magnus went over to the opening for the skate floor. There were several small kids in the way being tentative about stepping out there, and Alec watched as Magnus jumped over the wall, and landed on the other side completely in one piece and more gracefully than anyone had a right to.

Giving himself a mental shake, Alec found Max and skated towards the center of the floor. He watched as the good skaters once again got in their line on the outside and did their jam skate to the song that was playing. Alec had never heard the song, but it was amazing watching them all skate to the beat of it. This really wasn’t Alec’s music, but he could get used to it if it meant that he got to watch Magnus move like that.

“YES! I love this song. I listen to it on YouTube!” Max yelled over the music.

“Oh, yeah? I didn’t even know you were on YouTube. What’s it called?”

“Wobble!” Max said, rolling his eyes at his older brother, making it clear that he thought he was lame.

Alec huffed, “Wobble?! What the heck kind of name is that for a song?!”

When he got a dismissive hand waved at him in lieu of a reply, Alec looked up to see where Magnus was. He was just a little ahead of where they were, but very quickly making his way around the rink. Alec watched him go around the corner, then flip around and say something to his friends, before flipping back around and doing his crossover moves again. Alec was once again mesmerized, and if he was being honest with himself, totally turned on too. Truly, that was the last thing he needed, to have a giant crush on someone who was possibly attached, probably not even gay, and way out of his league. He forced himself to peel his eyes away from Magnus and concentrate on his brother.

The time flew by, because they were having so much fun despite his lack of skills. Max was really getting to be quite a good skater, and was absolutely fearless about it. He just kept trying new things, and getting back up when he fell.

Alec even managed to stay upright the whole time, until one of his skates began acting up.  
He got off the floor to fix the problem. Seeing that there wasn’t a place to sit on any of the nearby benches, he went over to the skate counter, and leaned against it, inspecting his wheel to see what the problem was.

He sensed someone standing close to him, and looked up, expecting Max. He was pleasantly surprised to see Magnus there instead.

“Everything alright? Can I help?” Magnus asked.

“Sure, I think you’ll be better at fixing it than me. I don’t think this wheel is rolling like it should,” he said, pointing to his left skate.

Magnus had already hopped over the rental counter to get tools, which made Alec chuckle considering the door was just a few feet to his right. Seems Magnus did everything the dangerous way.

“Hop up here for me? It’ll be faster to fix it while you have it on, and I’m sure you are simply dying to get back out there,” Magnus teased with a wink.

Alec grinned as he swung his legs over the counter to face Magnus, “Yeah right, so sad to be here with you instead of honing my skating skills.”

“Sarcasm will get you _everywhere_ with me,” Magnus lifted Alec’s skate up, “Let’s have a look.”

Alec watched as Magnus spun each wheel with long elegant fingers. He couldn’t remember if his nails were painted last time, but today they were a matte gray. He studied the large rings on his fingers, noticing that one was engraved with ‘M’ and the other a ‘B’.

“Ah, I see what the problem is. I have a trick for this. Just give me a minute,” Magnus grabbed a tool from a box, before turning away from Alec and leaning back against the counter.

He forced himself to say something to distract his thoughts from the fact that Magnus was currently cushioned between his legs.

“Seems you have a trick for everything,” he breathed out, not even sure if Magnus heard him.

The other man laughed, “I have quite a few tricks up my sleeve, yes, especially when it comes to skating. It’s pretty much my whole life,” and then he placed his left elbow over Alec’s leg, before lifting it, his hand sliding down Alec’s calf slowly until he had it where he wanted it.

His head started buzzing, and his stomach filled with butterflies at the realization that Magnus was touching him more than necessary. He could not believe this gorgeous man was wasting his skate time to help him, let alone that he was in such close proximity to him. Alec’s hands were in his lap, but they were so close to Magnus’ ass that he could have easily reached out and touched it. He caught the scent of his cologne, and he took advantage of that, inhaling deeply before releasing his breath, watching fascinated as Magnus rolled his neck in response. He could see that tattoo peaking out and his fingers itched to reach out and push his shirt sleeve up so he could see all of it. _Concentrate, Alec. Skating, right._

“How long have you been skating?” he asked, focused again on polished nails deftly fixing his troublesome wheel.

“A long time. I was about eight when Luke and I became close and he brought me here. I took to it instantly, and have been totally immersed ever since. It’s been very convenient being friends with the owner of a rink. I’m here about five or six days a week, and I work as a skate designer for one of the biggest companies around.”

Alec was taken aback by the amount of personal information Magnus had just offered him. He had been expecting a short reply. He replayed Magnus’ words in his head and realized something. “Wait, isn’t the rink only open Friday through Sunday?”

“Normally, yes, but I usually spend time here two or three days during the week as well. I have my own key.” Magnus answered proudly.

“Skating?” Alec asked, remembering his comment before about private rink time.

Magnus looked back at him and gave him a soft smile, “Yes, it’s great. I put on my music and zone out. I can practice new tricks or go as fast as I want without all these people here. Just me, myself, and I. Sometimes I even come in an hour or two early on Fridays and Saturdays to get some time in.”

“All done,” Magnus dropped his skate, and turned around, replacing the arm that had been pressed up against Alec’s leg with his right hand. He leaned into Alec, like he had no plans to move any time soon.

Alec’s mind was reeling. Surely, you wouldn’t say that skating was your “whole life” if you were in a relationship. That was a good sign, and with all this close contact, Alec was beginning to think that by some miracle Magnus might be interested in him. He scrambled for something to say, not wanting the moment to end.

“B,” he blurted out.

Magnus looked confused, “B?”

“Your ring. The M and the B. Magnus I get. What’s the B?” Alec asked.

“Bane. Magnus Bane.”

“Alexander Lightwood”

“Nice to meet you again, Alexander,” Magnus grinned at him and Alec felt like the breath was knocked out of him by the sound of his full name on those lips. He usually hated when people called him that, wasn’t even quite sure why he said it in the first place, but somehow Magnus made it sound so beautiful. He wanted him to say it again, and very nearly asked him to do just that, when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

They both looked over and saw Madzie standing there with a serious look on her face, “Magnus, my race is coming up and you _still_ haven’t played Justin for me.”

Alec watched Magnus as he hopped back over the counter, said “of course, darling. I was just helping Mr. Lightwood with his skate. I’ll do it now,” to Madzie before looking back at him, “See you on the floor?”

“Yes, you will,” Alec assured him.

After that, he had plenty of chances to ogle Magnus, so all in all it had been a good night. Actually, better than good, as there were several times when he thought he was going to absolutely melt.

Once, Magnus was leading the group of other skaters around, as they neared Alec and Max, when a little girl cut in front of them. Magnus swerved around her, having no choice but to go in between Alec and Max to avoid a crash. As he went by, he lifted his left skate up off the floor to squeeze through, and placed both hands on Alec’s back to steady him, so he wouldn’t fall over from being startled. He’d barely had time to register what had happened before it was over and Magnus was halfway around the rink again, but it made him nearly combust on the spot.

Another time, Alec was sitting at a table in the snack bar watching Madzie and Max skate, when Madzie fell right in front of Magnus. Alec was sure that he was going to run over her, but it turned out he was wrong, because Magnus _jumped_ completely over Madzie to avoid colliding with her. He actually jumped high over her and landed on both skates like it was the easiest thing in the world, before spinning around and skating back to her to make sure she was ok. Then Alec watched as he lifted her up off the floor easily with one hand, talked to her for a moment, and sent her back on her way. The combination of his care and concern for Madzie and his badass skate skills was really doing things to Alec.

All night, he would watch the screen to see what songs Magnus chose. Every time the screen flashed with “Magnus’ Magical Music” he would pay attention to the lyrics and watch the way Magnus moved to them. A few times he even discreetly typed the titles of the songs into his phone so he could listen to them again later. One particular song really struck him, and he had a hard time not reading too much into it. The screen said it was “Every Little Thing I Do” by Soul For Real. Alec could have sworn that Magnus gave him several long looks during that song, which went,

_Can’t you see what you do to me_  
_I think about you all the time_  
_My mind is hazy, and i’m mixed up feeling crazy over you_  
_Let’s not waste any time_

_Every little thing I do, You’re on my mind_  
_The way I feel lately, It’s driving me crazy_  
_Every little thing I do, You’re on my mind_  
_I can’t get over you, I think about you all the time._

 

Then again, he felt like he was seriously out of his mind, so he could have been just been imagining it. Still, Alec immediately added the song to his spotify playlist. There weren’t lyrics that could better say how he felt.

The night was almost over and Alec was feeling very antsy, when Max came over to sit with him on a bench, noticing that Alec had changed out of his skates.

“Hey. You aren’t skating anymore. You okay?” Max asked him, concern on his face.

Sometimes he was amazed at how loving and caring his brother was, for a kid who didn’t have the most nurturing parents. It’s why he was so protective of him.

“I’m good buddy, just had a long day at work, and skating is a lot more cardio than I realized, and that’s coming from a guy who runs for fun.” Alec ruffled his brother’s hair up.

“Running is the worst! Can we come to the Valentine’s skate next week? I love it so much here, and I’m making friends. Izzy said that I’m with you on Fridays now that I need to make you come with me!!”

“Oh, did she now? Why does that not surprise me?” Alec rolled his eyes at his sister’s meddling ways. He really wasn’t good at skating, and was glad to have the break, be he also didn’t want to sit around watching everyone else have fun like a total weirdo. Not coming wasn’t an option because of Max’s love of it and Alec’s need to ogle Magnus. So he thought quickly and made a decision. “Hey, Max. I’m going to talk to Luke for a minute. I’ll be right back, ok?”

Alec walked all the way around the rink, dodging little kids and stepping over runaway skates. When he reached the booth, he waved at Luke, who motioned for him to come up. Alec climbed the few stairs into the booth and said, “Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something real quick, if you aren’t busy?”

Luke responded, “Not busy at all. Magnus queued up the last few songs for me already, so I’m just hanging out. What’s up?”

“I heard you talking to Magnus earlier about needing someone to work the skate rental area, and I’d like to apply for the job.”

“Really? I thought you already had a full time job?”

Alec shrugged, “I do, but Max is obsessed with skating now, and since I’m going to be here a lot now anyway, I just thought I could kill two birds with one stone. You need the help, so it seems like a good idea.”

“I would love to have you, Alec, but it doesn’t pay much,” Luke winced.

Alec reassured Luke, “That’s fine. It’s not about the money anyway. Really.”

“Then you are hired. I’m glad to have you!” Luke said with a quizzical expression on his face. “You can come by this week and fill out the paperwork.”

“Awesome. Thank You.” Alec said ducking his head to hide his grin before glancing at the person who had come up to the skate floor side of the booth.

It was Magnus, leaning into the booth, and he appeared to be looking for something.

With a quick smile for Alec, Magnus asked, “Hey, sorry to interrupt. Do you have the list of skate orders we placed last week? I need to check something and it wasn’t in the office.”

“Yeah, its right over there” Luke motioned to the other side of the booth, near where Alec was standing.

Alec found it very hard to breathe as Magnus hopped up into the booth and leaned past him to look through a stack of papers. He felt like he needed to get out of the way, but there wasn’t any place to go in the small space.

“Hey, Magnus, I have great news. We don’t need to place that ad for help after all. I found somebody, or rather somebody found me.” Luke informed his friend.

Alec watched as Magnus scanned the list asking distractedly, “oh, yeah? That was fast. Who?”

Luke leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, “Alec has asked to do it.”

Alec had to hold back laughter at the animated way that Magnus snapped his head up and looked at him.

“Really?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Really. When do you want me to start?” Alec asked, thrilled he’d been able to shock Magnus.

Luke answered, “How about Friday? We’ve got that big Valentine’s Day skate and we could really use your help.”

“Perfect, Max wanted me to bring him anyway.” Alec said, as he watched Magnus lose all interest in the list.

Magnus gave him a sly grin. “That’s fantastic, but are you sure you want to start on a special skate night? That’s seven hours of madness. It’ll be a brutal way to break you in, for sure!”

“I think I can handle that. I have great stamina,” Alec replied, surprising himself with his new-found confidence. He ignored the blush creeping over his cheeks and Luke’s short laugh, and simply grinned at Magnus, before he lost his nerve. It was totally worth it, to see the look of surprise and awe on Magnus’ face, before he turned around, exited the booth, and went to find his brother. And there was definitely a spring in his step.


	3. Into You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus has private rink time. Alec starts his new job at the skating rink, and tries really hard to stay focused on work. Magnus needs help with something, and Alec comes to his rescue. A mutually benefical agreement is made :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time since I updated. I am going to try to update sooner next time :) I assure you that I'll never abandon this fic. It has my heart, and my beta would never let me.
> 
> Speaking of my beta-this was beta'd by the lovely @LadyMatt. M- I love you more than Alec loves Magnus' magic stick! (I KNOW!!!) ;)
> 
> I should mention that I know ZERO about computers (like Magnus), but it's Alec's job, so it's in here. I am good with social media and Chrome OS only. So please forgive anything that sounds ridiculous. I'm winging it.
> 
> Chapter Title comes from Into You by Ariane Grande
> 
> Music is important, as always:
> 
> Here are the songs used in this Chapter (By the way I do not own the songs or their lyrics in any way, shape, or form.)
> 
> Ciara's 1, 2 Step, feat. Missy Elliott
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHNgV6_znU
> 
> Ariana Grande's Into You
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ekZEVeXwek
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @blj2007
> 
> Comments are amazing and keep me writing when It's hard, so feel free to leave one.

 

Alec pulled into the parking lot of Luke’s Roller Dome. He rummaged around the backseat of his SUV for a hat. He was just finishing up an evening workout with Jace when Luke called and asked if he could come by and fill out the hiring paperwork that needed to be done before he started work on Friday. Alec didn’t have time to shower or change, so he threw a hat on, hoping it would at least cover his crazy hair and make him a little more presentable. As he was walking in, he noticed that the only other car in the lot was the black Charger that Jace had been drooling over. _Huh._ He must’ve been wrong about Luke still having his truck, or maybe he still had the truck, but he had talked Jocelyn into a fancy new ride.

He went through both sets of unlocked doors and stood there, waiting for his eyes to adjust. It was almost completely dark in the rink, save for one light that was on in the center of the skate floor, which had Magnus in the literal spotlight.

Alec was frozen in his spot by the door. He looked around to see if Luke was there and when he didn’t see him, he called out his name, and waited for him to come out of the shadows. When Luke still didn’t appear, he focused his attention back on Magnus, expecting him to have heard him calling out. Except Magnus wasn’t paying any attention to him, instead he was spinning himself like a pro. He watched as the other man stopped spinning, then went up to balance on the tips of his skates before dropping back down, repeating the motion over and over. It looked to Alec like he was rehearsing a special move, one that he was determined to get right.

Alec felt like he was intruding on a private moment, but he didn’t want to leave either, so for the moment he decided to stay and wait for Luke. Magnus would spot him soon, anyway, even if he hadn’t heard him earlier. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, so that he would have something else besides Magnus to focus on and leaned against the wall. He tried to pull up a game on his phone and play, he really did, but the hunk of metal and glass in his hand had nothing on the hunk that was skating.

He watched as Magnus stopped suddenly, pulled his phone out, tapped the screen a few times and put it back in his pocket, before he left the middle of the skate floor and started skating closer to the edge. Alec wondered why Magnus didn’t have any music on, and how he was moving like that without it, until Magnus skated closer to where he was standing and Alec noticed that he had wireless earbuds in. He really wished he could hear the music too, and see what song made Magnus move that way.

Where his moves before had been repetitive and calculated, his moves now were fluid, and sensual. He clearly was having a visceral reaction to whatever music was playing in his ears. Alec couldn’t have peeled his eyes away from this man even if he wanted to, and he _really_ didn’t want to.

He watched as he made his way around the rink skating to unheard music, and took advantage of this rare chance to ogle. His hair still had the magenta streaks, and he had his normal skates on, but his clothes were different than the other times Alec had seen him. For starters, he was wearing red jeans today. Instead of his standard tee, he had on a black long sleeve button down shirt, in which half of the buttons were left undone, exposing a V of tan, necklace adorned skin. Alec swallowed and looked around the rink again for Luke. Honestly, he _needed_ Luke to appear and save him from his thoughts, because his mind was getting dirty really fast. He looked back to Magnus, who had stopped skating, facing away from Alec and was waving off to his left. Alec followed his gaze and saw lights being flicked on one at a time as Luke walked down the rink. He must’ve come in the back door. Alec watched as Luke waved at him, and panic set in as Magnus turned to see who Luke was waving to. _SHIT. Busted._

Alec watched, mortified, as Magnus looked over to where he stood, which was now in a well lit area thanks to Luke. Alec stilled, like a deer in headlights waiting to see how he would react. Magnus gave a small look of surprise before cocking his head in an unspoken question, and quickly skated off the floor, following Luke over to him.

Alec’s first thought went to how creepy Magnus was going to find it that he had been standing there in the dark watching him. He told himself to calm down, that he was asked to come here by Luke, and that Magnus didn’t know how long he was there watching anyway. Surely it was only a few minutes? And what was he supposed to do, go interrupt Magnus and flag him down to announce his presence? It was going to be fine. He just needed to play it cool.

He’d barely begun to get himself under control when he felt a new wave of panic about his clothes. He wasn’t expecting to see Magnus today, and here he was in his gym shorts, running shoes, sweaty tee, and hat. His getup looked like garbage compared to how stunning Magnus looked today. _Double shit._ Just his luck that nothing seemed to be going in his favor tonight!

Thankfully, he didn’t have too much time to work up an anxiety attack, because Luke and Magnus had made their way to him. After a very quick glance at Magnus, who was removing his earbuds, he forced himself to focus on Luke. It was the only way he was going to get through this conversation without blushing furiously.

Luke reached out and slapped him playfully on the arm, “Hey, buddy. Sorry to ask you to come here last minute and then make you wait for me.”

“Oh, uh, no problem. Jace and I were just finishing up at the gym, and I was on my way out anyway.” Alec smiled at Luke and shifted a little towards him, very aware of how close Magnus was on his other side.

Luke pointed to Magnus, “I’m really surprised this guy didn’t have you in skates. I’ve seen him talk people into much more scandalous things in fifteen minutes.”

 _FUCK!_ Had it really been that long?! Like an idiot, Alec looked at his phone to confirm what Luke had said, and sure enough, he had been there for seventeen whole minutes.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal, really. I was a little late too. I’ve only been here about ten minutes,” he lied. “Traffic was terrible. Did you get stopped by that train? I hate that train.” Alec rambled despite his brain telling him to stop talking.

Magnus said, clearly amused, “Well, I would have had to know he was here to talk him into anything scandalous.”

Alec looked up and tried to explain, “You were busy, and I didn’t want to bother you. I just need to fill out the hiring paperwork. I figured I needed Luke for that anyway.”

Magnus and Luke shared a knowing look, clearing not believing anything he was saying, and for the briefest moment Alec considered just turning around and running out the door.

Then, much to his surprise, Magnus saved him. He held up his wireless earbuds between two glitter polished fingers and showed Luke, “I was fully in my zone. The whole place could have been on fire and I wouldn’t have known.”

Luke laughed, “Well that explains it! You were saved by the music, Alec. Let’s get you into my office, and leave Magnus to his one true love.”

Alec breathed a sigh of relief that the heat was off of him, and he happily followed Luke into the office, forcing himself to not look back at Magnus as he said “Laugh it up, but skating is one love that will never hurt me, my friend.”

He was glad to be away from the intense gaze of a certain super hot skater, because he probably would’ve written the wrong name down if he had been doing this in the same room as Magnus. And if he had been in the same room where Magnus was skating? All bets were off. As it was he had a hard time concentrating on the task at hand, thoughts of how he’d moved during the solo skate time still vivid in his mind.

When he was done with paperwork, Luke showed Alec around the rink, making sure he knew where everything was and filling him in on the basics. Magnus had gone back to skating, and Alec pulled the bill of his hat down lower and stuffed his hands in his pockets as they walked around the floor. He had barely wiggled out of that situation with his pride intact earlier, and he wasn’t going to get caught watching Magnus again today. Even though It was really hard to not stop and watch him. Magnus simply commanded attention, but considering he didn’t need a certain body part standing to attention right now, he did his best to avert his eyes.

When they had made the rounds, and were back to the front door, he noticed that Magnus seemed to be done skating as well. He was slipping into his shoes, when Luke asked him, “Hey, Magnus, you can help Alec at the counter Friday night, right? He should be just fine, but it’ll be a busy one, so something may come up I haven’t gone over yet.”

“Of course. I’ll help in any way I can.” Magnus replied smoothly, tucking his skates under his arm, and scooping up his keys off a table.

“Great! Looks like we are all set. I’m parked out back, so you lock up out front, and I’ll see you both Friday.”

“Give Jocelyn and Clary my love,” Magnus said as he fist bumped Luke. Alec gave them both a wave and said, “Thanks. See ya.”

It was dark when they walked outside, only the one overhead light illuminating Magnus as he locked the front door to the rink. Alec was headed to his car, when it hit him that the only other car in the lot was the black Charger that was there earlier, and that it had to be Magnus’ car. _Of course it is._ It was sleek, sexy, and fast, with a little bit of mystery and edge, just like it’s owner. Alec shook his head in disbelief that he hadn’t made the connection sooner.

Magnus noticed him standing there, and walked right past his own car and over to Alec with all his normal grace and confidence.

Alec got a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, and stumbled around for something to say. He ended up going with, “Nice car. Jace was admiring it last time he was here.”

Magnus smirked, “Thank you. I can’t pass up anything that goes fast, and I like strong and powerful things, so I had to have it.”

Alec shelved that comment to think about later when nobody was around to see him blush, and he quickly changed the subject, “So, I’ll see you Friday night then? Will Madzie be with you? Max has a lot of fun with her, and she’s really helping him get better.”

Magnus smiled fondly at the mention of Madzie, “Oh yes, she’ll be with me. She wouldn’t miss skating for anything in the world, and she enjoys spending time with Max too. She adores her brother, but he doesn’t share her love of skating. He plays basketball.”

“Are they related to you?” Alec asked.

Magnus’ expression softened and turned a little sad, ”No, Sean and Madzie have had a rough time in life. I help out at the Community Center. I met them at the after school program. Their parents aren’t around, and so I’m doing my best to help keep them out of the foster system. Sean is seventeen, and a really great kid with way too much responsibility on his shoulders. I help with Madzie as much as I can. Luke and I actually knew their mother from back in our middle school days, before she got involved in drugs and dropped out. So while they aren’t blood related to me, I’ve kind of adopted them as my family. I’ve been where they are, but that’s a different story for a different time.”

Alec was surprised that Magnus had chosen to disclose this much to him. He was once again in awe of his caring and selfless spirit, and hit with a huge wave of compassion for Madzie and Sean. It wasn’t the same, but he knew what it was like not having parents around when you needed them. The difference was that he was Max’s brother, and so he, Jace, and Izzy had a responsibility to care for him. With Magnus, he didn’t have a responsibility to these two kids, but he did it out of the goodness of his heart. And to hear that Magnus had been a child without a parent made him curious to learn more about him and his past.

“That’s amazing, Magnus. They are lucky to have you. Our parents aren’t around for Max, so we take care of him. It’s not the same, but I get it.”

“Oh, I’m lucky to have them. I don’t know what I would do without my little skating buddy.” Magnus quickly deflected the compliment, then got a twinkle in his eye, “You know, we usually come a couple hours early on Friday nights, if you want to join me and see what I can manage to talk you into, or…….if you just want to watch me zone out again.”

Alec couldn’t stop himself from sighing heavily. He shook his head a little, and looked at the sly smile on Magnus’ face. He knew it was too good to be true, that his gawking had gone unnoticed. He wanted to say something, but Magnus smile was kind of blinding him, all white teeth in the dark night. He was far too close to him, yet not close enough, and it left him feeling unsure whether to take a step towards him or away from him. He had never been more intrigued and terrified of someone before. He watched in fascination as Magnus reached a hand out and grabbed his hat, turned it around backwards, and said, “There, better.”

Then he simply turned around and walked to his own car, like he hadn’t just made Alec a blushing mess. It took him a good ten seconds to recover and make his way into his own vehicle. Even then he just sat there and watched Magnus drive out of the lot, thinking about how he might never take this damn hat off again. He was pretty sure it was Jace’s too, so he’d have to buy him a new one.

* * *

 

“Will you pass me the ketchup, Jace?” Alec asked as he arranged his and Max’s food on the table.

Jace handed the bottle over, asking, “So what are you two doing tonight? Playing a little Mario Kart?”

“Nope. We are going skating. It’s Friday,” Max informed him.

“Again? I can’t believe you keep talking Alec into this. Have you seen him on skates, Max? It’s kinda cruel to keep making him go.” Jace snickered, clearly proud of himself.

Max dunked a fry in ketchup, and said, “Oh he has to go, but he’s not skating. He works there now.”

Alec braced himself for the onslaught of comments from Izzy and Jace. He hadn’t told them about the job at the rink, and while it wasn’t necessarily a secret, he was hoping they would find out separately at least. This was going to be brutal.

“Alec! You work there now?! You didn’t tell me that. Why didn’t you tell me that?!,” Izzy said, her voice a little more shrill than normal.

Jace was a little calmer, but still confused, “Dude, you _have_ a job. You make good money too. Why the hell would you want to work at the skating rink every weekend?”

Alec opened his mouth to respond, when Izzy cut him off, “Oh. My. God. It’s because of _him_ isn’t it?”

Alec had to get this under control. “No. Izzy, it just makes sense. Luke needs help at the rink during busy season, and Max wants to be there all the time anyway. Obviously, I’m not great at skating, as Jace so nicely pointed out, so it works out this way.”

“Uh-huh, sure. It’s totally because of him,” Izzy pushed.

Jace was suddenly curious, “Because of who? What are we talking about?”

Alec snapped, “Nobody! Nothing!”

“Alec, it’s okay. I’m glad you are doing this. Who wouldn’t want to get paid to watch him?” Izzy said around her bite of cheeseburger.

Jace was getting irritated, “Damnit, will someone fill me in on who we are talking about, please?”

Alec caught the eyes of his two older siblings across the table and cocked his head toward Max, who was sitting next to him, mouthing “shut up” at them. He hoped they would get the picture and cease discussions of Magnus.

Jace’s eyes immediately got wide and his mouth dropped, clearly taking this as confirmation that Izzy was right, and Alec was interested in someone.

Max chimed in, completely oblivious, “Are you guys talking about Magnus? Everyone likes watching Magnus. He’s a great skater.”

Jace started laughing incredulously, while Izzy answered, “Yep, we are talking about Magnus. He’s a _really_ great skater, isn’t he Max? He’s so fast.”

Alec was glaring daggers at his sister, and praying that she would shut her mouth for once.

“Which one is Magnus?” Jace asked.

“Magnus is the one with the dark hair, and tan skin. Beautiful brown eyes. Jewelry. Painted nails. Eyeliner,” Izzy said sweetly, pointedly looking at Alec while she ticked off Magnus’ defining characteristics.

“Oh, I remember. The tall, muscular one, in the tight shirt, with the bright skates? Tattoos?” Jace confirmed.

“Yes, that’s the one,” Izzy said, clearly very happy with herself.

“Wow, Alec, I’m impressed. If you think you are tall enough to ride that ride, then by all means you should go for it.” Jace shrugged, like he wasn’t making sexual innuendos in front of his eleven-year-old brother.

That was it. Alec jumped out of the booth, and scooped up their tray, “Max come on. We gotta go. Izzy has to get back to work, and we have errands to run before skating.”

“Why do I have to leave because Jace is being innapropriate?” Max asked, but got out of the booth and followed him anyway.

That caused Alec to pause. He thought most of his siblings joking was going right over his brother’s head, “Wait, you know what he’s talking about?”

“Well, I don’t really know what it means, but I do know he’s saying something he shouldn’t. He gets this look on his face every time.” Max informed him, while doing his best impression of Jace’s teasing face.

Alec shot one more look back at the table, where Izzy was laughing into Jace’s shoulder and Jace was doing his best innocent expression. These two were unbelievable. He practically ran to the exit, and almost made it out the door of the restaurant before he heard Jace yell, “Go get it, Alec!!!!.” He was never talking to Jace again.

* * *

Magnus was glaring at his laptop and hitting the enter key a little too forcefully. He had picked up Madzie and come to the rink a little early to get some skating time in, only to get an important work email notification on his phone. It seems that of all the design pages he sent over to the production department, only about half went through. He had gone out to his car and retrieved his laptop to see if he could figure out what had happened. His solo skating time was taking a backseat to his work deadline, which would be fine if his computer would cooperate.

If it was up to Magnus, he would sketch out all his designs with pencil and paper, and deliver them via snail mail, but that wasn’t how the world worked in this century. He wasn’t completely averse to technology. He could navigate social media like a pro, but this design program was going to be the death of him.Technology was only great until it wasn’t, and Magnus had made his frustration with his company’s choice of software well known. He was waiting on the IT department to find an acceptable solution. In the meantime, he was trying to resist the urge to throw his computer on the floor. He smiled at Madzie, who was a few tables over coloring intently, and put his headphones in and turned on his “chill” playlist, trying to summon some calm feelings. He went through all of his design slides again, and deciding that they looked perfect, he resaved them in the correct format. He pulled up his email to attach the files again and his screen froze. He hit all the combinations of buttons that was supposed to restart a computer, to no avail. _Damnit!!!_ He slammed his laptop shut and ripped his earbuds out, fuming. He was trying to talk himself out of launching his computer, when he heard laughing.

Alec and Max had joined Madzie at her table, and the kids were laughing and coloring, while Alec was looking at him, concerned. “You ok? Madzie said you were working, but you don’t look very happy.”

“Oh, I’m _not_ very happy. I have a deadline to meet. I’m trying to email designs and I can’t get this god forsaken machine to do what I need it to do. It isn’t listening to me,” Magnus pouted.

“Do you want me to look at it for you? I might be able to help,” Alec offered.

Magnus explained, “I’m not sure it can be helped. It won’t send my email with my design slides as attachments, and then the damn thing keeps freezing up on me. I have two hours to get these turned in and skating starts in one. At this point I’m thinking of just going out and buying a new laptop.”

Alec walked over to where Magnus was and said, “I can definitely fix this one. You don’t need to go out and buy a new one. May I?”

Magnus was a little caught off guard by his confidence when he hadn’t even looked at the thing yet. “How do you know you can fix it?” he countered.

“Well it’s what I do. I have a degree and everything,” Alec assured him, and gestured to the “machine” in question. “What have you got to lose?”

Magnus wasn’t sure what he would have imagined Alec’s job was, but this took him by surprise. So, he wasn’t just a pretty face, and a caring brother, but he was also very intelligent?! Magnus was almost scared at the thought of how perfect this man seemed. He was in so much trouble here, that a faulty computer should be the least of his worries.

Still a little stunned, he said, “Be my guest” and watched as Alec sat down and flipped open his screen.

Magnus stood over his shoulder and watched in fascination as Alec’s fingers flew across the keys, quickly getting his computer to restart with no trouble at all. _Traitor,_ he thought. How dare this computer make him look incompetent in front of Alec?! Then again, he was having a hard time being genuinely mad as he watched Alec work his magic. He definitely seemed to know what he was doing. He didn’t even dare to hope that he’d be able to do it on his own later. He just focused intently on Alec’s long fingers, and the concentration on his face.

“Anytime your computer freezes up, the first thing you should do after you reboot it is delete your cookies. It gets bogged down and needs to be cleared out. Also, you had about twelve tabs open at once, which really isn’t going to help your computer run quickly,” Alec instructed.

“The only thing I do with cookies is eat them, but if you say so….” Magnus remarked, pleased when that got a little laugh from Alec.

“You said you have to send something for work. WIll you pull up your email and the thing you need to send for me and I’ll see what the problem is?” Alec leaned to the side, giving Magnus room to type over his right shoulder.

Magnus noted the gesture, but not one to waste a golden opportunity, he chose to ignore it. Instead, he placed his left hand on the outside of Alec’s, while navigating the touch-pad with his other one. Leaning in to effectively trap him with his body, he was close enough to inhale the scent of his shampoo, as he looked over his right shoulder. Magnus kept a laser focus on the computer screen, pulling up his email and his design slides, saying to Alec, “Here are the slides, there are eight of them that I need to send.” Pointing at the screen, he showed him, “Here you can see the emails I’ve already sent, but they are saying they aren’t getting them all. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“Wow, Magnus. You designed these?” Alec asked in disbelief.

He straightened up away from Alec, giving him a little bit of his personal space back before answering. “Yes, this is my job. It’s what I do. Designing them was the easy part. It’s emailing them that is the hard part. Who knew?”

“These are incredible.” Alec looked up at him in wonder.

The compliment made Magnus ridiculously proud. He’s always known he’s good at what he does, of course, but it feels amazing to hear it from Alec. “Thank You. I’m really passionate about it.”

He watched as Alec went back to the task at hand. “Ok, so the email thing is a really easy fix. These are huge files, and so we need to compress them before they can be emailed.” With a few more seconds of fingers flying across the keyboard, he did just that. Magnus saw the email confirmation on the screen and felt a huge sigh of relief.

“Oh, Thank you. You have saved me today.”

“Really, it was nothing, but can I ask you why are you using this particular design software? It’s notoriously out of date and not user friendly. There are much better programs available out there,” Alec said to him.

Magnus was so glad that he wasn’t the only one who felt that way about the dastardly software, “Yes! I’m glad to have some back up on that. I feel exactly the same way, but they won’t change which software they use. They don’t want to pay for a new one, when this one is technically getting the job done.”

“The problem is money, then?” Alec confirmed.

Magnus laughed bitterly, “Isn’t it always, Alexander?”

“But, they would let you use different software if they didn’t have to pay for it?” Alec asked, turning around on the bench and looking up at Magnus.

He was keenly aware of Alec’s knees brushing his legs, as he thought he knew where this was going, “Yes, and I could pay for it myself and make my life easier, but I haven’t gotten frustrated enough to shell out that much money out of my own pocket.”

“No, that’s not what I was thinking. What if I created software for you? I could tailor it to you, make it so that it was just right for your design work, and easy for you to use,” Alec said excitedly.

Magnus was _not_ going to get emotional over this. He was not. Except that he was. Who just offered to do something like that for someone? Where did this man even come from? One day he just showed up here and turns everything upside down. Magnus’ head was spinning a little.  
He must have taken too long to answer, because Alec assured him, “It’s fine if you’d rather not. This one will get the job done too. No big deal.”

“Alec. I….Yes...I would love that, but I can’t take advantage of you like that. I’m sure it would take a great deal of time and effort on your part.”

“Really, I don’t mind. I like doing it. It wouldn’t take that much time.” Alec tried to reassure him.

Magnus huffed out, “Says the man with two jobs! _And_ who takes care of his brother! ”

Alec grimaced, “Yeah but see, Max is only with me a few days a week, and I have a pretty nonexistent social life. I’m lame like that.”

“You are far from lame.” Magnus scolded him as an idea started to form in his brain. “How about a trade?”

Alec’s eyebrows raised, “A trade?”

“You need to learn how to skate, and I need help with my computer. We could trade.” Magnus watched as Alec’s eyes grew wider.

“I’m terrible at skating,” he said.

“I’m terrible with computers,” Magnus fired back. “And I’ve seen you skate, hence me trading your computer skills for private skate lessons.”

Alec choked out, “”Private skate lessons? With you?”

“Who else?” Magnus was having a little too much fun watching Alec squirm, “A couple hours of computer work for a couple hours of skate lessons. We can start this week.”

He fully expected Alec to make up some excuse, or flat out refuse, so when Alec said “Ok, yeah, let’s do it,” Magnus was pleasantly surprised.

* * *

 

Alec was working behind the skate rental counter. It was a little past seven and the place was filling up quickly. He stayed busy taking tickets and handing out skates, while Max and Madzie were off having fun. So far everything had been going good, and it wasn’t exactly rocket science, so he should have an easy night, provided he could keep a certain man off of his mind. _Private skate lessons_. Just the thought of it had his mind reeling, and that, on top of the way Magnus had leaned over him earlier, was taking up way too much space in his brain. As if conjured by his thoughts, Magnus skated up to the counter, leaned on his elbows, and looked up at Alec through strands of Magenta hair.

“Everything going well over here?” he asked.

Alec nodded his head, “Yep, easy. Looks like it’s going to be busy.”

Magnus agreed. “The Valentine’s skate always is. If something comes up, you can get me. Sometimes a skate needs fixing and you may not know where everything is, or you might be too busy to do it, so feel free to summon me,” he said with a wink.

Alec nodded, “OK, I will.”

“It can be hard to flag someone down on the other side of the rink though. You can text me. I always have my phone in my pocket. You still have my number right?”

Alec’s thoughts went to the piece of paper in his wallet with Magnus’ number on it, and how embarrassing it had been to ask for it back from Maia. “Yes, I still have it.” he said, trying not to give anything away in his expression.

“Ok, well text me if you need anything. I’ll check in on you later.” And then he was gone, jumping over the half wall onto the skate floor with his normal flourish.

Alec was doing just fine at his new gig. There were periods where it was hectic, but mostly he was just busy people-watching. He could keep an eye on Max from here, and it was really easy to watch Magnus. That man never stopped moving. He was either speeding around the rink shuffle skating with his friends, queueing up songs for Luke, or spending time with Madzie. From where he was standing, Alec had a very good view of the screen which showed the requested tunes, and as always, he paid extra attention to the songs Magnus played.

He had to admit that the music played at the rink wasn’t anything like what he had on his own playlist, but watching the way Magnus moved, it made listening to it much more appealing. He definitely found himself paying special attention to the _lyrics_ of the songs Magnus played. He knew it was silly, but he felt as though he could learn more about him from his song choices.

Sometimes a song would come on, and five or six of them would head to the middle of the floor and do a dance on their skates. It reminded Alec a little of The Electric Slide dance that kids would do in high school. It was similar because they were all skating in sync, but it was different because they would add their own freestyle too it. Magnus was the one who went off form the most, doing spins, and flips, and even spinning on the ground like a breakdancer. Madzie even got in on it, and Alec was thoroughly impressed with how good she was at keeping up with Magnus. Max tried to keep up with them too, and even though he couldn’t quite manage it, everyone was really kind and cheered him on for his effort.

Alec had to admit that, as much as he enjoyed watching them, he felt a little left out of the fun. Which he knew was absurd, because he would be falling all over the place if he was out there. He found himself wishing there was a way to magically have the ability to skate like Magnus.

It was in the middle of one of those songs, Ciara’s “1, 2 Step”, as Magnus was dancing in the middle, and Alec’s eyes were fixed on him, that a crowd of teenagers descended upon the skate rental counter. Alec looked at his watch. It was ten o’clock, and skating had started three hours ago, so Alec hadn’t been expecting all these people to come in this late. He worked quickly to supply the skates, but it was still taking too long to reduce the queue. When a couple of kids came up that needed to switch their skates for different sizes, and a little girl needed her stopper put back on, Alec was overwhelmed, but he didn’t want to seem like he couldn’t handle things on his very first night. Sitting the little girl on the counter, he told her he would need a minute. Then he traded the skates for the boys, and turned to wait on the next person needing rental skates. That “person” ended up being three people. Three very giggly teenage girls were standing there, with their tickets held out.

“You’re new,” one said. “We haven’t seen you here before.”

Before he was able to reply, another chimed in, “I’m Amber, what’s your name?”

“Alec,” he said with indifference.

“Oh, Alec. What a nice name. You seem much nicer than the last guy who worked here.”

Alec couldn’t even hide his aggravation. Considering the last guy who worked here was Raphael, he was sure that was marginally true, but these girls were clearly flirting with him and Alec was way too gay for this shit.

Sometimes women hit on him, which he understood, considering you couldn’t look at someone and tell their sexuality, but Alec wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy. He could usually turn them off just by being his normal self, and if things got really out of hand a simple, “I’m gay, but thanks anyway,” did the trick. However, this was his job, and so he couldn’t be rude, and he also didn’t want to announce his sexuality to a line full of patrons. _Well, shit._ This was an aspect of customer service he hadn’t considered. He encountered nothing even remotely like this while working behind the scenes at his day job.

He handed the giggle troop their skates, and asked the guy behind them what size he needed. When he turned back around with the man’s size elevens and the girls had still not moved away from the counter, he decided it was time to call for backup.

He said, “Excuse me just a minute” to nobody in particular as he ducked around the shelves of skates. He pulled out his phone, and the piece of paper with Magnus’ number, and sent him a text, before immediately going back to work.

* * *

Magnus was trying to show Madzie how to do a proper spin when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and read the text from the unknown number.

**Maybe some help. Please? -Alec**

His eyes snapped up to see a line of latecomers at the rental counter. Sometimes the high school and college kids came in later, but when they didn’t arrive at their usual time of nine, Magnus had assumed they weren’t coming. He felt terrible for Alec as he sped off the floor and towards the counter. That feeling got even worse as he saw Amber and her friends leaning all over the counter like they were glued to it. Oh no. Poor guy. Those girls were shameless, and Alec looked like he was about to die of annoyance.

They had tried with him many times, and Magnus had shut that down from the very beginning. It took them way too long to get the hint, so to see them being very much in Alec’s way while he was trying to work got under Magnus’ skin for many reasons. He got to the counter, and Alec looked up, relief on his face, even as one of the girls reached a polished nail out and touched the sleeve of his shirt for no reason at all. That pretty much made Magnus’ skin boil, even though he didn’t have any right to be jealous of Alec.

It would have made great sense to go through the door to get behind the counter, considering all the people lined up in front of it, but Magnus was in the mood to make a statement.

“Excuse me,” Magnus said, purposely going right in between the girls. He hopped up on the counter, swung his legs around to the other side and hopped back down right next to Alec.

Alec started to say something, but Magnus stunned him into silence when he put a hand on his chest, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, just barely brushing the corner of Alec’s mouth with his, “Don’t worry darling, I came to rescue you,” he whispered in Alec’s ear before turning around to face the patrons.

“Oh, ladies, good. You’ve already been waited on. Have a wonderful time. Next person in line please.”

They worked alongside each other in silence for awhile. Alec took tickets and handed out skates. Magnus returned the ones that were brought back, and fixed the little one’s skate, who was waiting patiently on the counter. He noticed that Alec was not making eye contact with him, and he was a little nervous that he had overreached. Truly, what he had done was the very best way to get those girls gone for good, and ok, maybe part of it had been him staking a claim on Alec that he had no business staking. _Shit._ He really hoped he hadn’t screwed things up. Alec had looked completely stunned, but he didn’t look angry, and he didn’t punch him, so it couldn’t be that bad, right?!

When everyone had been helped, and the area had been cleaned up, Magnus turned to look at Alec. He looked so good in his jeans and gray henley, strands of his dark hair touching his forehead. “I’m sorry about that, if I made you uncomfortable. It’s just that I’ve been through it with those girls and they are relentless. I figured it would make your life easier if they thought you were taken. I’m sorry if I crossed a line.”

“No, Magnus. It’s ok. You didn’t make me uncomfortable, they did. You just took me by surprise.” He hesitated, like he was deciding something, before saying, “I’m, uh, I’m way too gay to deal with giggling teenage girls. So, thanks.”

Magnus’ stomach was doing flip-flops at the fact that he hadn’t upset Alec, and at the new information he had just been given. “Anytime. Anywhere,” he said with a wink. He hopped up on the counter, stretching out along it, and went to work cleaning his skate wheels. He noticed Alec looking intently at the design on his skates, before asking, “Did you design these yourself too?”

“Yes, I did. You like them?” he asked, looking up from his skates to Alec.

“Yeah, I do. The colors are nice.” Alec mused.

Magnus was a little taken back by that. He just assumed Alec would put two and two together, that the pink, purple, and blue on his skates were done with bisexual pride in mind. But maybe he hadn’t made that connection.

He was just about to clarify it with him when Alec asked, “Can I ask you something?”

Magnus nodded, “Yes, of course.”

“Are you gay?” Alec bit his lip nervously.

Magnus answered, “No” and before he could expand on that, Alec beat him to the punch again, “Are you Bi?”

“Yes, I am. Hence the bisexual flag design on my skates,” Magnus answered, smiling softly, and waiting for Alec’s response.

“Good to know,” he said in return, smiling back, and moving a little bit closer, tracing a finger around the design.

“Good to know,” Magnus repeated. He really should stop this conversation. He didn’t date people who came to the rink, let alone worked there and this was breaking all of his rules. “I should go check on Madzie. I left in a hurry to get over here,” Magnus said as he hopped up off the counter, and made his way over to use the door for once.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks for all your help,” Alec said with a hint of disappointment on his face.

Magnus meant to leave and keep his rules intact. He even had his hand on the knob, but he couldn’t bring himself to open the door. He simply had to know something while Alec was in a sharing mood. He turned around and leaned against the door instead of opening it. “You know what else would be good to know?” he asked, before he could stop himself.

Alec perked up and took a few steps in his direction, “What’s that?”

“Do you have a Valentine?” Magnus felt like he already knew the answer, but wanted to be sure.

“No. I’m single.” Alec answered, “What about you?”

“No, The only love I have right now is skating,” Magnus repeated Luke’s line from earlier in the week.

Magnus watched with guarded eyes as Alec seemed to search his face for something, before taking a deep breath, and saying, “I have one more question for you too.”

“Shoot.”

Alec grinned, “Did you really choose this song? Because the board says you did, but it doesn’t seem like your usual picks.”

Magnus listened to the song that was playing, and smiled, “Why, yes I did.” he quickly went over the lyrics in his head and repeated them to Alec, “I’m so into you, I can barely breathe, and all I want to do is fall in deep…..I like those lyrics, don’t you?” he teased.

He watched in fascination as Alec blushed, but still closed the rest of the distance between them. He nearly lost his breath when he leaned his tall frame up against the door, blocking him from view of anyone who would come up to the counter. His voice dropped to a whisper, “I don’t know, I think I need to hear more lyrics to decide.”

Being in such close proximity to Alec was affecting his train of thought, so he plucked the first lyric that his ears heard, and hoped it was a good one. He breathed out, “So baby come light me up, and maybe I’ll let you on it-” Magnus was stopped by Alec’s lips on his. It was featherlight, so soft and gentle, but it didn’t matter, because Magnus’ whole body erupted in flames. It was quick, with Alec pulling back far too soon, and Magnus chasing after his lips.

“I owed you one,” Alec said, voice raspy.

“I’m glad you paid up,” Magnus said, not quite recognizing his own voice.

“You should check on Madzie, and I should get to work,” Alec said, putting a few feet of space between them.

“Yes, we should. I’ll talk to you later.” Magnus opened the door without turning around and practically fell through it, in what was no doubt the most ungraceful move he had made in his life. He stopped to get his wits, when he looked up and saw Cat standing there, grinning from ear to ear. He was positive she saw what happened, or at least enough to know _something_ happened.

“Don’t say a word, Catarina,” he glared at her.

She laughed, “I was just going to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day, Magnus, but it seems Alec wanted to be first in line.”

 


	4. Lend Me Your Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Private skate "lessons" are had and Magnus and Alec take advantage of the time to get to know each other better. Flirting, touching, and sweetness abound. Alec gets hot and sweaty and Magnus breaks his own rules some more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!!!!!!. It's been 6 months. I'm officially the worst at update schedules, but I promise to never abandon it. Writing is hard and real life has been super busy for me, so thank you all for your patience. I've got this entire thing planned out and I'm super inspired by it right now, so I'm hoping to get chaps out to you more regularly.
> 
> Thank you to the most beautiful beta bestie, @Ladymatt. I love you more than Magnus loves retrieving things from Alec's pockets, M. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> 
> *All mistakes are still mine, because M doesn't make mistakes*
> 
> I figure the easiest way to give you the music for each chapter is to give you a link to a YT playlist. I hope this works well for you all. I can never get embedded links to work, but one day when I'm not bananas busy I'll try again. For now it's copy and paste. You can find the music in this chapter here:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUUprtTr8A&list=PLliagSMJaQXIfjslSHXscFLGA_0kpG5XH
> 
> Songs here, just in case that doesn't work for some of you:
> 
> Slow Motion-Trey Songz  
> Work-Rihanna  
> Lend Me Your Love-Preston Hutto
> 
> There are also references to songs in other chapters and all of those can be found on my YT channel as well.
> 
> Music doesn't belong to me, of course. Just borrowing it.

Alec concentrated on timing his breaths with his steps, trying to focus on Coldplay lyrics and quiet his mind. You would think that after seven miles he would be able to calm his racing thoughts, but he just kept going back and forth about whether or not he should call Magnus. He had left the rink before the other man on Friday, waving goodbye as he tugged a sleepy Max to the car. He had picked up his phone to call him many times over the weekend, only to put it back down. Every romantic comedy he had ever watched with Izzy led him to believe that the ball was definitely in Magnus’ court now, but he was anxious to talk to him.

When his music suddenly faded, he lifted up his arm to see his caller ID through the cover on his armband, already knowing the ringtone was imminent. He slowed his steps as soon as he saw ‘MB’ come up on his screen, and his heart fluttered with anticipation at the sight of those initials. He damn near tripped over a tree root and fell on his face trying to simultaneously stop moving and press the button to answer the call.

“Hello,” he said, breathlessly, as he leaned over, hands on his hips.

“Alexander?” Magnus’ rich voice filled his ears and he closed his eyes on instinct to focus on the sound. _Damn._ He almost sounded even better on the phone than he did in person, and that was saying something.

“Yeah, hi...it’s me,” he said around breaths.

“You sound...busy. Is this a bad time?” Magnus asked curiously.

“No. No. It’s a good time. I was just finishing up a run.”

“You can call me back after you catch your breath, if you would like.”

“No, uh, I’m fine,” he assured him, not wanting to let him go.

“Are you sweaty?”

Alec’s mind short circuited for a moment at that, but he managed to answer, “Uh, yeah. I have an eight mile trail run today.”

Magnus whistled. “So, to be clear, you are out of breath _and_ sweaty? I’m just trying to get a mental picture here.”

Alec laughed, a little relieved that Magnus was still his same flirty self and things weren’t awkward after he had kissed him. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to his brain, or the fact that the distance was making him brave, but he surprised even himself by saying, “Yep and I have my shirt off, too.”

Magnus asked smoothly, “Do you really?”

Alec couldn’t help the satisfied grin that broke out on his face. He wasn’t shirtless, but this was too much fun to pass up. “I guess you’ll never know.”

“Wow. Rude, Alexander.” He laughed and said, “I was calling to see when you want to get together and work on the fun kind of cardio.”

He knew Magnus was expecting him to think of more than one “fun” kind of cardio. “Right. I’m pretty much free every night except for the weekends when I’m at the rink,” he said too quickly, then mentally kicked himself for sounding so lame.

If Magnus was turned off by his lack of social life, he didn’t allude to it. “Hmmm, I’m at the center on Monday and Thursday this week, so I could do Tuesday or Wednesday. What’s your preference?”

“Tuesday,” Alec blurted out, simply because it meant he could see Magnus one day sooner. _Real smooth, Lightwood._

“What time do you get off work?”

Alec tried to push down the butterflies in his stomach at the mere thought of being alone with Magnus. “Five at the latest.”

“Meet you there at six?” Magnus asked.

He smiled. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll uh, I’ll see you then.”

“I look forward to it."

“Me too. Bye, Magnus.”

“Goodbye, Alexander.”

Alec felt especially light on his feet the last mile of his run. He spent it thinking of the best way to go about creating the new software for Magnus’ skate designs. It was only fair that he hold up his end of the deal, and it was much better than thinking about how he was going to have to skate in a few days in front of him. After all, Magnus was the one with the hard end of the bargain.  
 

__________________________________________________

 

Alec pursed his lips and looked down at the way-too-nice black skates on his feet. “Are you sure about this?”

Magnus smiled encouragingly at him. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Alec looked up and grimaced, “I’m only the world’s worst skater. What could possibly go wrong?”

“I assure you that you are not the world’s _worst_ skater. And in any case, you are in _these_ very capable hands.” He held his hands up and wiggled his fingers for emphasis, the light reflecting off his rings.

Alec smiled amusedly around his nerves. “Where did you get these again?” he asked, pointing to where his borrowed skates were planted on the carpet.

“Luke had them. They were a special order in the wrong size. We can’t send them back, so they’ve just been sitting in the office,” he reminded him.

“And he just let me have them? They look expensive.” Alec furrowed his brow.

“You are stalling. It’s going to be ten times easier to learn on these skates than the rental ones. Think of it as borrowing them, if you like.”

Alec nodded in agreement. “Ok, but what if I fall on you?”

Magnus cocked his head ever so slightly and smiled coyly at him. “Alexander, do I look like I can’t handle you on top of me?”

He couldn’t help it when his eyes raked over Magnus’ broad shoulders and chest. He shook his head and sighed. ”Good point.”

Magnus’ eyes twinkled as he moved onto the skate floor and immediately spun himself around so that he was facing Alec. He let himself roll backwards slowly and asked, “Are you coming?”

Alec took a deep breath and slowly took to the floor as well. He was definitely nervous, but he was surprised to find that it wasn’t hard to convince himself to follow Magnus.

He immediately felt better once he realized that Magnus was right about the nice skates; they definitely made a huge difference. He was gliding along much more smoothly than he had on the others and they looked much better. He relaxed a little, looking from his feet back up to Magnus, who was watching him intently and skating backwards effortlessly.

“You were right, these are easier,” Alec admitted.

“I’m glad,” Magnus said with keen eyes still on him.

They went around the rink in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Alec simply concentrating on Magnus’ smooth movements and trying not to lose his balance.

“So what’s the trick here?” Alec asked, hoping to find something that he could do to make him less awkward on skates.

“The trick?” Magnus asked.

“Yeah, you know, to make this easier,” Alec said, gesturing to his long legs.

“Well, the secret is….” Magnus leaned in closer and looked around mischievously before whispering, “There is no magical trick to make you good at skating. It just requires practice.”

Alec rolled his eyes playfully and gave him an exaggerated groan. “Really, Magnus. That’s rough.”

“It can’t be worse than running eight miles,” Magnus countered.

“That’s just once a week. I usually only run four or five.”

“That sounds like an absolute nightmare. What else do you do to keep in shape?” he asked.

“Well I box, usually with my brother, Jace. I also lift a little...pushups and pullups, things like that.”

“Now you are talking. I like those options better.”

“Hey, running is really good for your heart and it helps you with stamina in other sports.”

Magnus said, “Well skating is my cardio and I have amazing stamina,” and winked at him.

Alec looked down and smiled. “Yeah, well not all of us can be so fancy.” Did he say that out loud?

“Fancy? You think I’m fancy?” he teased.

He had said it out loud. “Something like that,” he answered shyly.

Magnus just stared at him for a long moment, before he cleared his throat, and got back to the topic at hand. “You are doing just fine,” he reassured him. “You’re a little stiff, and it works against you. You have to keep your body loose and go with the flow. Skating is a little like dancing in that you _feel_ it more than anything.”

Alec squinted an eye at him. “Well, that explains a lot, because I’m a terrible dancer.”

“Says who?”

“Uh, my sister. Actually, all of my siblings say that,” Alec admitted.

Magnus stopped moving suddenly, which put Alec on a path to roll right into him. He reached out and placed his hands on Alec’s shoulders to keep them from colliding and said, “I find that a good dance partner makes all the difference in the world. I’m going to go get something. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll just..yep..I’ll stay right here,” Alec said, but Magnus was already off and hopping over the half wall. He watched as he grabbed something off the table, jumped back over again, and came right back to where he was waiting.

“Music!” Magnus said, holding up his phone in explanation. “You can use one of my earbuds and I can use the other. Good?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Alec answered, holding out his hand for the tiny wireless earbud.

Magnus slid purple polished fingers across his phone screen, looking for the right playlist.

Music filled Alec’s ear and he shook his head when Magnus asked if it was too loud.

“Shit. Uh. I don’t have back pockets today and there is no way I’m getting this monster of a phone into my front ones.”

Alec looked Magnus over again. He was wearing a deep red loose t-shirt and incredibly tight black jeans. He was actually very impressed that Magnus could even skate in those jeans. “I can put it in mine,” he offered.

Magnus handed him the phone, “Thank you. If you want to change the song, just tap your earbud twice. I don’t know what kind of music you like, yet.”

 _Yet._ Magnus wanted to get to know more about him. “Oh, I’m sure you know skating music better than me.” Truth was, Alec was actually very curious to hear the music on his playlist. His choices at the rink always intrigued him.

“What’s this one called?” he asked.

“Slow Motion,” Magnus answered. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah. He has a nice voice.”

Magnus nodded in agreement and said, “You are already less rigid. This is good.”

“If you say so,” Alec said, trying to watch the movement of Magnus’ feet and copy them.

“Do you think it’s too dark in here? I can turn some more lights on if you want,” Magnus asked, looking around at the rink. There were just a few colored lights dotted around.

Alec thought that Magnus looked beautiful with the purple light falling across his face and hair, highlighting his cheekbones and making the pink highlights in his hair look even brighter. “No, it's perfect.”

“You’re an angel, you know that?”

Alec scoffed. “Ah, I don’t think so. I’m sure my parents would disagree with you.”

“Oh, well it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been at odds with parents. I can handle it.” Magnus winked at him.

Alec thought about the possibility of his parents meeting Magnus one day. On one hand the thought terrified him because he knew his parents still weren’t too accepting of his sexuality, but on the other hand he felt a small glimmer of hope that he had maybe found someone worth introducing to his family and someone he could potentially have a future with. _Too soon._ He snapped out of his thoughts and quickly asked Magnus about his day at work.

They went on like that for a little while, talking about their jobs and Magnus offering up small pointers to make skating easier. It didn’t escape his attention that Magnus seemed to subconsciously move to the music playing in their ears, and he could tell that he was holding back to stay right there with him.

“You don’t have to stay with me, you know. You can do your _thing_ ,” Alec said, gesturing to the center of the skate floor with an exaggerated roll of his hand.

“Nonsense. I’m perfectly happy right here, Alexander. Besides, if I’m not here, how can I cushion your fall?”

He blinked quickly as his eyes flitted over Magnus’ frame again. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m concentrating,” he said in mock seriousness.

“Oh, right..right. My mistake, sorry,” Magnus said, clearly trying not to smile.

They were rolling along, with Alec listening to Magnus talk about his work at the center and watching him impressively balance on the front two wheels of each skate, when the chorus of a song got his attention and his smile turned into a grimace.

Magnus noticed and stopped in the middle of his story to ask, “You don’t like this one?”

“Uh, it’s different.”

“That bad, huh?” Magnus teased.

“I just….how many times is she going to say that?” Alec asked, exasperated.

Magnus mouthed along with the words to Rihanna’s “Work” animatedly.

Alec raised his eyebrows, “Wow, yeah. It’s not my favorite.”

“Mmmmm, that’s really too bad, because it’s one of my favorite songs to skate to.”

“Oh, yeah? Well it’s not as bad as that other one, I guess. Wiggle baby, or whatever it is,” Alec said.

Magnus smiled broadly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “What?”

“That song. The one Luke plays all the time. It’s not as bad as that one.”

Magnus started laughing, and Alec couldn’t help the wide smile that broke out on his face too, even though he had no idea what was going on. Magnus’ smile was absolutely infectious. “What?!”

Magnus laughed harder, doubling over, clutching his stomach with one hand and placing the other hand on his knee. “I’m sorry,” he choked out. “I don’t know why this is so funny.”

As Alec watched Magnus stand up to his full height, his face still lit up in laughter, he was struck with how beautiful this man was. It was truly a sight to behold. Alec wanted to make him laugh like that every day for the rest of eternity and drink in his beauty. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

Magnus corrected him, “Wobble. The song is called Wobble.” He chuckled and then in an impression of Alec’s voice, repeated, “Wiggle baby!” He looked up at Alec, his eyes shining, with remnants of smile still dancing at the edges of them. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something in my teeth?”

Alec let himself slow down and placed his hands on his hips, suddenly self conscious about his staring, “No. It’s nothing.”

“What are you thinking about?” Magnus asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking that this is fun.”

His heart skipped a beat when Magnus looked at him like he knew there was something more, only able to relax when he said, “You can change it...the song, I mean.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s really no-” his words were lost in a deep exhale as Magnus closed the space between them and reached up to tap at his ear and change the song. A slower song started playing and Alec immediately recognized this one, having made note of it while working last weekend.

Continuing his lesson in skating music, Magnus grinned. “It’s”-

“Lend Me Your Love,” Alec finished for him. Magnus stayed there just inches from him and the atmosphere between them shifted. Alec was aware of Magnus’ hand now resting on his shoulder, and that they were no longer moving. He looked down, his eyes roaming over Magnus’ chest and biceps and then falling to that tattoo that was just barely visible beneath the sleeve of his shirt. As if drawn there magnetically, his long fingers reached out and hovered just over that sliver of tattooed skin.

He was dying to lift the sleeve of his shirt and see it all, but he felt like he was on the edge of something profound and personal. Magnus just didn’t seem like the kind of man who got a tattoo for purely aesthetic reasons. He stilled his hand and looked up at him through his lashes. “Can I see?” he asked, his fingers tingling and his heart pounding as he waited for the answer.

Magnus swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, as he looked from Alec’s fingers to his eyes and blinked a few times, then nodded. Alec got so lost in those brown eyes that he almost forgot what he was asking permission to do.

He slowly reached out and touched smooth skin, sliding his fingers up Magnus’ arm and dragging the sleeve of his shirt with them. He heard him suck in a breath and he held his own as he revealed black letters and numbers in beautiful script. His brain immediately placed the image, having seen them somewhere inconsequential before. He looked up at Magnus. “They’re coordinates?” he guessed, his voice a little deeper than normal.

Magnus confirmed his suspicion with a nod.

“To where?”

Magnus’ expression shifted just the tiniest amount to something deeper and darker, and then just as quickly he was back to normal, amused even. “I’ll tell you when you learn to skate backwards.”

“So never, then?” Alec asked, disappointment in his voice.

“Alexander, are you doubting my teaching abilities?”

“No, I’m doubting my skating abilities,” Alec said, still very aware that his fingers were still lightly holding up his sleeve.

Magnus changed the subject, surprising him by asking, “Will you please tell me what you were thinking of earlier?”

Alec could have brushed off the question, but he didn’t. He tightened his grip on Magnus’ arm, almost as if anchoring himself and answered, “I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.”

He watched nervously as the expression on Magnus’ face changed to….awe….disbelief? _No, that can’t be right_ , he thought, very sure that Magnus had probably been told this a thousand times before. He watched carefully as Magnus almost imperceptibly shook his head, and then reached up with his free hand to brush a strand of hair off of Alec’s forehead. His whole body tingled at the small touch, so when he continued, sliding those beautiful ringed fingers down his cheek and across his jaw, Alec became weak in the knees. Literally.

His legs became jello, and his skates slid out from under him. He braced himself for the backwards fall, for the tangle of limbs and the embarrassment that would come with it.

Magnus reacted quickly. He snaked a strong arm across his back and guided him back to the wall that was a few feet behind them. He fell against it, the ledge of the barrier digging into his lower back, and he ended up pinned between the wall and his rescuer. Magnus’ hand was still splayed across his back, the other one gripping his hip lightly as a stabilizing thigh was pressed between his to keep him upright.

Alec was holding onto the ledge with both hands, as their current situation was definitely not helping his equilibrium.

“That was a close one,” Alec breathed out nervously, mostly to distract himself, “Thanks.....for your capable hands.”

Magnus looked down at their entwined bodies. He loosened his grip, but put the toe of his skate down on the foot that was in between Alec’s, indicating that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. “I feel like I should be the one thanking you.”

Even with his heart beating hard against his ribs, it was the most natural thing in the world for Alec to make a move. He used the ledge for leverage, pushing his body up and closing what little space there was between them. Magnus was moving at the same time, leaning in as he anticipated what Alec was about to do.

This kiss was different from their first, less gentle and tentative and more hungry and urgent. He felt Magnus grip a fistful of shirt, pressing fingers into his hip, and Alec moaned softly into his mouth. Magnus’ hand slid up his back, strong fingers tangling in his dark hair.

Alec’s forearms were burning and the phone in his pocket was vibrating, but he didn’t want to break off the kiss. Magnus was the one who pulled away first, opening his eyes slowly and looking at him.

“I could get used to this skating thing,” Alec admitted in a wrecked voice.

Magnus smiled, “Welcome to the dark side.”

Alec gave him a crooked smile before the buzzing on his thigh demanded his attention again. “Your phone, it’s uh...it’s vibrating.”

“Ah, yes. _That._ What time is it?” he asked, releasing his fingers from Alec’s hair and stepping back from him just a little, but making sure to keep a hand on his waist in case he needed steadying.

Alec looked at his watch, “It’s six-thirty.”

“It’s probably Ragnor, I’m supposed to meet them for dinner and the bugger likes to get there early and harass me until I show up.” Magnus rolled his eyes. He gingerly reached into Alec’s pocket and pulled his phone out.

Alec remained still and willed his body to calm down. He took a deep breath and, still not trusting his legs, just decided to hop up and sit on the wall while Magnus made his call.

“Hello, Ragnor,” he said, bringing the phone to his ear. He scowled and rolled his eyes again at something that was said.

Alec was thankful for the moment to gain some composure, but he had to admit that he was already missing Magnus’ hands on him.

As if reading his mind, Magnus reached out and placed his free hand on his knee, and Alec covered it with his own, rubbing his thumb along Magnus’.

“Yes, but why must you do this every time? I was in the middle of something very important.”

Alec smiled crookedly, happy and a little bit smug that he was the "something" Magnus was referring to.

“Ragnor, that information would have been good to know when we scheduled a time.” Magnus looked up and him, his eyes apologetic.

“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered.

“Alright, I’m on my way, but you are buying dinner tonight. Drinks, too.” Magnus cut off the call.

“I’m so sorry, Alec. Apparently he has a play to get to later and he moved our dinner up. I wish that man would start texting like he lives in this century.”

“Don’t worry about it, really. It’s not like we won’t see each other in a few days,” he reminded him.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are an angel?” Magnus asked, reaching up and plucking the headphones from both their ears.

“Actually, someone _has_ told me that before, but I don’t think I believe him,” Alec said, playing along.

“Well, you should. I hear he’s fancy.”

Alec chuckled, swinging his legs over the half-wall and stepping down on the carpet. “He _is_ fancy.”

Magnus quickly jumped over to join him and retrieved their shoes from the bench. “You should probably call this fancy man later then, so he can keep whispering sweet nothings in your ear.”

“I’ll do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave me comments, and you can yell at me on Tumblr @blj2007 if you like.
> 
> I do not own these characters. They are all property of Cassandra Clare and Shadowhunters (Freeform TV) I just like to play with them.


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